JXN Water administrator reflects on 1 year of improving Jackson's water system. What he said

The state of the City of Jackson's water system is "in many ways lightyears" ahead of where it was a year ago, according to Ted Henifin, the federally appointed third-party water administrator.

Henifin spoke about improvements to the water system during a "One Year Later" virtual press conference JXN Water held on Wednesday. Henifin was federally tapped in an interim stipulated order to take over on Dec. 1, 2022, and fix the city's beleaguered water system, which had been mismanaged for decades.

"We've largely stabilized the system but we still have a long way to go as far as capital projects in the future to make sure it remains stabilized and continues to operate," Henifin said. "But we're delivering water to everybody in Jackson … it meets all Safe Drinking Water Act requirements and it is being tested and monitored on a regular basis."

Henifin thankful for support

Henifin thanked his JXN Water team, which consists of Jackson employees who transferred over to assist him with fixing the water system. He called U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, the federal judge Henifin reports to on a quarterly basis, a "hero" for his support and engagement in the project.

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He also thanked the support he has received from the Jackson community and said it was gratifying to hear from residents who have finally been able to have clean water in their homes. He shared a video from an ecstatic resident he received last week who was able to have her family over for Thanksgiving for the first time in five years because her home had clean water.

"I think next year at this time we will see equally amazing progress between where we are today and where we'll be then," Henifin said.

A failure to communicate

Henifin acknowledged that in the first six months he was in-charge there was a lack of communication from JXN Water and the community. In July, community groups, advocates and even the Jackson City Council called for more transparency and updates from Henifin about the work he was doing. That led to a two-day hearing at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse to discuss the matter with U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate and those groups.

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Henifin said the lack of communication during those six months was due to JXN Water focusing on stabilizing the water system.

"We were really focused on just that: stabilization, figuring out what was going on with the distribution system, getting our contractor in place, running the plants," he said. "We really ignored a lot of other things (like) communication and public education."

JXN Water, Henifin said, has worked hard to improve that in the past six months, by things such as setting up the JXN Water call center for residents and hiring communication specialists to help with public education.

What the future holds

"Our focus going forward is on public education, making sure people understand where the water is coming from, what goes into treating the water and making sure it's safe," he said.

As far as what will happen when JXN Water's job is finished, Henifin said there has been "no real discussion at this point." The interim stipulated order put Henifin and JXN Water in charge of the water system for four years.

"Obviously, going back to the city is a possibility or some sort of other authority like a municipal authority, regional authority or a nonprofit held in a public trust," Henifin said. "I don't think anything is off the table at this point, but a lot of exploration and research needs to be done before we can even put together the right team and (talk to) community groups to start really thinking what's best for Jackson."

He said more discussion will be had "in the coming years" on the topic. The aim is to figure that out by the end of year three and have a transition plan set up in year four, Henifin said.

Jackson sewer system

In October, Henifin was also put in-charge of fixing Jackson's broken sewer system that has reported 215 emergency sewer failures. Henifin said contractors have been hired and are currently underway fixing the sewers, but there may be more failures than originally thought.

Since none of the $600 million federal dollars — given to Jackson's water system by the Biden administration — can be used to improve the sewers, Henifin said it's important for residents to start paying their water bill. JXN Water will take some of that money to use for repairs to the sewers. Henifin announced new water rates last week.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ted Henifin speaks on one year in Jackson MS, fixing water system