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9/18/2026
WT Staff
 Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtla.us
Sep 18, 2026 237 pm CDT
Trust through transparency: How a court-ordered, third-party management structure is working to restore the most challenged public drinking water facility in the South
City of Jackson Water Systems
As drinking water infrastructure ages across the continent, water main breaks are the unfortunate side effect. The US Environmental Protection Agency reports 15 water main breaks annually for every 100 miles of pipe is standard, even expected. In Jackson, MS the annual water main break rate averaged 55 per 100 miles, according to a Mar 2026 article in Groundwater News. Public water facilities function on service revenue collected from rate payers, with maintenance and upgrades scheduled as funds allow. In the case of Jackson, Mississippi, maintaining the public water infrastructure has been a very long term challenge.
Post-Reconstruction, 1890 to 1940 (aka Consolidation and Jim Crow era), Jackson's public infrastructure was designed and built around the segregation laws of the day. After WWII, federal investments with Interstate highways opened up the counties adjacent the bustling capital. When the City school system desegregated in 1971, around 11,000 white families scooted from the Jackson Metro area, moving their wealth and means to Madison and Rankin Counties, which grew and thrived along with their tax base.
As Jackson metro area sat on acres of tax-exempt government and University properties, retaining relatively lower income households, the shrinking tax base could not maintain its water infrastructure. Decades later in 2013, Jackson entered into the largest dollar value infrastructure contract in its history, hiring German multinational tech company Siemens to install digital water meters and a new billing system. The project was a disaster. The new water meters failed. Frustrated citizens were advised not to pay their water bills until the matter could be resolved. The City of Jackson sued. Siemens settling for slightly less than the $94 million contract value. A third of the proceeds went to the legal team. The disposition of the balance does not appear to have been invested in the now severely underfunded water system.
A heavy rainfall event in 2020 caused a stormwater overflow of 500 million gallons of raw sewage and 5.7 billion gallons of partially treated wastewater to hit Jackson's drinking water supply. In this same year, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves blocked a bill to fund urgently needed repairs to the city water system. Groundwater News reports in a comprehensive timeline of events, no part of the $1.8 billion in federal emergency funds for Mississippi water and other public infrastructure in 2021 reached the City of Jackson water system account before an extreme weather event in August 2022 once again overhwelmed Jackson's beleaguered drinking water system. The disaster flattened the water and wastewater treatment plants, with more than 100 water main breaks reported. State and federal authorities declared a State of Emergency as 150,000 people were deprived of water for several days. Low flow and discolored water persisted afterward, prompting citizens to sue the City for failing to provide clean water. This desperate situation was set up a century ago and left to brew for decades. The unfortunate circumstance of a major contractor's non-performance left the system hopelessly underfunded as customers ignored their water bills.
In US Federal District decision action against City of Jackson, a "stipulated order" put Ted Henifin in charge of two EPA Enforcement Priority water plants, each one with significant SDWA violations. JXN Water emerged as the face of the interim entity set to manage one of the most significant and far-reaching public water system rehab operations in US history.
City of Jackson has two SDWA licenses: City of Jackson MS0250008 with 189,000 customers and the City of Jackson Maddox system MS0250012, serving 28,000. The larger of the two treatment plants draws raw water from Pearl River at two intakes, the smaller plant draws from the Ross R. Barnett Reservoir further north. The federal government funded Henifin a one-time allocation of $150 million to resurrect and reform the water treatment plants and decrepid distribution systems.
Under Henifin's experienced leadership, the JXN Water team identified 16 priority upgrades, as essential for compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and long term success. The team secured additional funding for the necessary upgrades from a variety of sources, including US Army Corps of Engineers. In four years, the team has made considerable progress, having had no system-wide boil water advisories in the last two years, constraining any disruption to the immediate service area. In this way, JXN Water has been delivering consistent water service through more than 70 thousand commercial and residential connections.
Communications has been key to the rehabilitation of Jackson's water reputation. According to Comms spokesperson Aisha, reigniting the public trust has been slow, but it's going. Four years of transparent disclosures, open door policy, patient and timely response to public and media inquiries, JXN Water has demonstrated steady progress, completing priority upgrades and delivery the water service in compliance with SDWA regulations. Aisha reports, over 6500 leaks have been identified so far, with a hundred miles of 2" distribution lines already replaced. This work will continue under the current management until 2028, at which time the court will turn operations over to a long term management authority.
In early September, international attention fell upon the City of Jackson's water systems once again. Widespread media coverage came in response to an announcement from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, shutting down citizens' claim against the City of Jackson for violation of their constitutional rights. (Note, the original lawsuit predates present water system management, JXN Water. ) The 5th Circuit decision states that clean water is not a constitutional right in the USA.
Clean drinking water was taken for granted in much of the USA and Canada until contamination of water caused loss of lives. The US Safe Drinking Water Act came about in 1974 as a result of extensive public pressure and national lobbying to codify and enforce public water safety.
See prior WT article, NRDC stands with US EPA in defense of PFAS "forever toxic chemicals" regulation for drinking water, here.
National Primary Drinking Water regulations are monitored by States and enforced by the US EPA. In 1989, the EPA was granted the authority to issue criminal charges under the SDWA, elevating the priority for enforcement and the extent of consequences for violating the public trust concerning drinking water. As new regulations arise from time to time, such as the Oct 2024 requirement for SDWA licensed water systems to inventory and publish the locations of lead service lines, the City of Jackson water plants have been compliant.
Both Jackson water plants are listed as EPA Enforcement Priorities with significant violations in the last 12 reporting periods. Even so, they have made forward progress. Mississippi Drinking Water Watch records show the Jackson water plants have remedied a lead and copper violation noted in 2025. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) records show an unaddressed Treatment Technique violation under the Revised Lead and Copper Rule. There are no monitoring and reporting violations listed. Struggles with by-products of disinfection remain an issue for both Jackson water plants, as per the Annual Water Quality report and federal inspection records, by-products of disinfection violations are common in many US surface water-supplied systems.
As JXN Water continues to lead with good management, open communication and proven results, public confidence will return. As customers resume the habit of regularly paying their monthly water bills, these operations will recover the financial stability required for long term success.
From the 2025 Annual Water Quality Report for The City of Jackson water system:
"JXN Water routinely monitors for lead and copper at pre-approved customer taps as required by Federal and State regulations. We proudly announce that our system has remained below the lead action level of 15 ppb since 2017. Results from our previous monitoring event are available upon request through JXN Water tel 601.500.5200. In compliance with the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), the City of Jackson has completed and submitted a service line inventory identifying the service line materials used in our distribution system. Below you will find details regarding what the inventory identified.
City of Jackson Surface Water System PWSID# MS0250008
The inventory was updated in September 2025 and identified 93 galvanized requiring replacement service lines, 32,527 service lines with unknown lead status, and 30,449 non-lead service lines, for a total of 63,069 service lines.
City of Jackson-Maddox Rd. Ground Water System PWSID# MS0250012
The inventory was updated in September 2025 and identified 3 galvanized requiring replacement service lines and 11,768 non-lead service lines, for a total of 11,771 service lines.
The service line inventory information is available by using the interactive map on the JXN Water website, here.
- from City of Jackson, Hinds County 2025 Annual Water Quality Report
Drinking Water Facility Profile: City of Jackson, City of Jackson - Maddox
EPA Status: Enforcement Priority
Owner: Under court order third party manager, Ted Henifin
Location: Jackson, MS
County: Hinds
Active Permits: MS0250008
System Type: community water system
Established: Jan 1, 1901
Population Served: 189673, Maddox - 28,098
Service Connections: 27,413 commercial; 44,431 residential
Source: surface water from Pearl River OB Curtis intake, Fewell intake
Designated Operator in Charge: Amy McLeod tel 601-940-5641
Latest Compliance Inspections: Level I Assessment Revised Total Coliform Rule: Oct 18, 2024 (State)
Significant Deficiencies noted in Pumps
Recommendations made for Distribution, Management-Operation
The following information gathered from federal EPA pertains to the quarter ending March 31, 2026 (data last refreshed on EPA database July 9 2026)
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Non-compliant inspections
(of the previous 12 quarters)
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with Significant Violations
(of the previous 12 quarters)
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Informal
Enforcement Actions
(last 5 yrs)
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Formal
Enforcement Actions
(last 5 years)
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12 out of 12
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12 out of 12
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64
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-
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Significant Non-Compliance and Violations Record:
Maximum Contaminant Level Violation Stage 2 disinfectants and by-products of disinfection rule - Jul 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025 - Archived
Treatment Technique Violation Lead and Copper Rule - Jan 1 2020 to present - unaddressed
*Note that drinking water information provided is aggregated from the federal EPA database, state resources and local government sources where available.
EPA publishes violation and enforcement data quarterly, based on the inspection reports of the previous quarter. Water systems, States and EPA take up to three months to verify this data is accurate and complete.
Specific questions about your local water supply should be directed to the facility.
The EPA safe drinking water facilities data available to the public presents what is known to the government based upon the most recently available information. EPA and States inspect a percentage of facilities each year, but many facilities, particularly smaller ones, may not have received a recent inspection. It is possible that facilities do have violations that have not yet been discovered, thus are shown as compliant in the system.
EPA cannot positively state that facilities without violations shown in ECHO are necessarily fully compliant with environmental laws.
The compliance status of smaller facilities that have not had recent inspections or review by EPA or the states may be unknown or only available via state data systems.
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