WLBT-TV Jackson
Mayor Lumumba: Work has not stopped to find funding to improve Jackson’s water system
The mayor says it was not a matter of the city not being prepared
By Maggie Wade | March 18, 2021 at 11:07 PM CDT - Updated March 19 at 7:06 AM
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - After weeks of dealing with Jackson’s water crisis and water being restored to homes and businesses in the Capital City, Mayor Lumumba says the work is not over.
Mayor Lumumba said, “It wasn’t a matter of the city not being prepared. It was a matter of the city not being equipped to deal with the winter weather. The systems we have are the systems we have until we replace the systems we have.”
The mayor also says he welcomes assistance from state and federal sources. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith introduces a bill to help fix the water problem.
She says the legislation would utilize resources from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Economic Development Administration. The Senator wants to authorize 47 million dollars through the Army Corps of Engineers to provide assistance for the design and construction of environmental infrastructure projects.
Mayor Lumumba says his office has been in continuous talks with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to find different potential avenues for funding.
“Our goal, our objective is to work with all willing parties, all people of goodwill and sincerity in order to rectify this issue and build a more sustainable infrastructure, a more equitable infrastructure. In terms of the federal partners, the federal family we have been in constant communication or continuous communication with the EPA. They have availed us or made us aware of many different potential avenues that we can pursue and so we’re doing our vetting,” Lumumba said.
The mayor says Congressman Bennie Thompson has also worked to help the city with funding from the Water Resources Development Act or WRDA but, so far, the city has not been able to get access to the money.
“There was an allocation of WRDA funds that Congressman Bennie Thompson fought for on behalf of the City of Jackson many years back but those resources have not been appropriated. They’ve been allocated but not appropriated to the City of Jackson based on Congress’ No New Start Span. This allocation preceded the No New Start Span and so we’ve been fighting, you know, basically putting forth the argument that Jackson, that it should not apply to the City of Jackson based on the fact that this preceded that policy,” Lumumba said.
The mayor says the city can no longer patch its way out of this problem.
“We don’t believe that as we bring these questions forward that it’s a matter of if these systems will fail, but a matter of when these systems will fail if we don’t have a significant and substantial and dependable line of funding to address them,” said Mayor Lumumba.
The mayor also told us his office recently sent an update to Mississippi’s Congressional Delegation on the money or appropriation it will take to address the water issue