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Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

reuters.com

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Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#31

Post by bequanna »

davak wrote: post #23
bequanna wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re confusing the responsibilities of states and local municipalities. It may surprise you to learn that Jackson is actually led by a quite liberal mayor: https://www.jacksonms.gov/departments/office-of-the-mayor/

The mayor has been begging* for funds from the state for a long time now to fix the problem though. That being said, I'm sure there is lots of local and state mismanagement that would go into causing such an embarrassment. * https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/17/jackson-faces-uphill-battle-...

So, instead of an appropriate local bonding ballot initiative (or whatever) to fund this like every other city does, they just throw up their hands and ask for state handouts?

Maybe they are worried about the political implications of rising property taxes or water bills?

Seems like a HUGE failure by an inept local government.

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#32

Post by objectivetruth »

bequanna wrote: post #31
davak wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mayor has been begging* for funds from the state for a long time now to fix the problem though. That being said, I'm sure there is lots of local and state mismanagement that would go into causing such an embarrassment. * https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/17/jackson-faces-uphill-battle-...

So, instead of an appropriate local bonding ballot initiative (or whatever) to fund this like every other city does, they just throw up their hands and ask for state handouts? Maybe they are worried about the political implications of rising property taxes or water bills? Seems like a HUGE failure by an inept local government.

No post body was provided.

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#33

Post by zikduruqe »

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #26
ArekDymalski wrote: post #20

Woah, Paolo Bacigalupi wrote "Water knife" only 7 years ago and I thought it depicts a scenario our grandkids will face. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Knife

Its kinda bonkers that golf courses and grass lawns are things allowed to thrive in areas of the US where they are not naturally occurring. I also think its kinda crazy that humans have brought agriculture to a desert via irrigation and think that's sustainable. This is the type of thing where Federal laws/rulings are needed because there are like 4 states over consuming the water.

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-stupid-is-our-obsession...

This is a good listen/read.

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#34

Post by zikduruqe »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #27
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its kinda bonkers that golf courses and grass lawns are things allowed to thrive in areas of the US where they are not naturally occurring. I also think its kinda crazy that humans have brought agriculture to a desert via irrigation and think that's sustainable. This is the type of thing where Federal laws/rulings are needed because there are like 4 states over consuming the water.

Irrigation agriculture has been a primary source of life in places like Arizona for millennia. Reducing it down to "irrigation is unsustainable" is both incorrect and unproductive. It can be made sustainable, as long as we understand the system and respect appropriate limits within that. It's likely those changes will need to be larger than anyone wants, but they're still possible in a less dramatic way than "everyon…

Also, that water is shipped to other countries in the form of alfalfa.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26124989

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#35

Post by [deleted] »

bequanna wrote: post #31
davak wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mayor has been begging* for funds from the state for a long time now to fix the problem though. That being said, I'm sure there is lots of local and state mismanagement that would go into causing such an embarrassment. * https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/17/jackson-faces-uphill-battle-...

So, instead of an appropriate local bonding ballot initiative (or whatever) to fund this like every other city does, they just throw up their hands and ask for state handouts? Maybe they are worried about the political implications of rising property taxes or water bills? Seems like a HUGE failure by an inept local government.

[deleted]

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#36

Post by germinalphrase »

ars wrote: post #28
toss1 wrote: post #10

They've got no water in one of the largest cities, but those state officials are definitely on top of making sure that those uppity females have no access to reproductive healthcare, and that city is mostly not white people -- they've got their priorities to take care of! Meanwhile, it looks like some federal intervention, e.g., Army Corp of Engineers is likely needed. More seriously, this is what we get when politic…

Are you seriously saying that people in Jackson are not capable to taking care of themselves? And they need the state to do it for them?

I know nothing about Jackson, but municipalities all around the country are reliant on money flowing federal>state>local, urban>rural, etc.

There can be good reasons to subsidize infrastructure - for example, urban residents help maintain a rural farming community because they desire the agricultural products.

It’s not even clear the entire state of Mississippi is “capable of taking care of themselves” as over 40 percent of their general operating revenue is supplied by the federal government (2017 numbers) which is consistently in the top five states for receiving federal aid.

I’m not an expert, but the defensiveness seems unwarranted.

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#37

Post by kahrl »

kurupt213 wrote: post #21
stodor89 wrote: post #7

2022, USA, 100k+ town with no drinking water. Indefinitely. We've truly peaked as a civilization.

indefinitely is a bit extreme. it should say "until pumps are fixed and service is restored"

When will the pumps be fixed and service be restored? Oh, an unknown or unstated length of time? There must be a word for that...

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#38

Post by listless »

kurupt213 wrote: post #21
stodor89 wrote: post #7

2022, USA, 100k+ town with no drinking water. Indefinitely. We've truly peaked as a civilization.

indefinitely is a bit extreme. it should say "until pumps are fixed and service is restored"

Yeah, it sounds like this is a feud between the governor and the mayor. The mayor is ultimately responsible here and the governor is using charged language. I assume that’s to make the mayor look more derelict. Who knows what’s actually going on here.

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#39

Post by tophi »

kurupt213 wrote: post #22
ParksNet wrote: post #16

Even regular tap water in many US cities is contaminated with PFAS and other pollutants. When water does reach a house, only about 5-20% is used for cooking or drinking - the rest for watering plants, showers, toilet flushing, washing. Is it better to just outfit each home with an under-sink reverse osmosis machine and pipe in raw reservoir water?

under sink would be too inconvenient and all the RO membrane cartridges, or millipore filter cartridges are contaminated with PFAS, anyhow. it's literally everywhere. We have to run ours for 30 minutes before taking the ultra-pure water at the lab to drop the levels down to 'baseline'. Otherwise, the built up levels blow out the instruments.

30 minutes for every new filter? Or every time?

Re: Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely

#40

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #27
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its kinda bonkers that golf courses and grass lawns are things allowed to thrive in areas of the US where they are not naturally occurring. I also think its kinda crazy that humans have brought agriculture to a desert via irrigation and think that's sustainable. This is the type of thing where Federal laws/rulings are needed because there are like 4 states over consuming the water.

Irrigation agriculture has been a primary source of life in places like Arizona for millennia. Reducing it down to "irrigation is unsustainable" is both incorrect and unproductive. It can be made sustainable, as long as we understand the system and respect appropriate limits within that. It's likely those changes will need to be larger than anyone wants, but they're still possible in a less dramatic way than "everyon…

> It can be made sustainable, as long as we understand the system and respect appropriate limits within that.

I think this illustrates that its sustainable on paper but the current sets of humans using the Colorado river water aren't using it sustainably though when its all added up. We can get pedantic about it but something has to change, right?

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