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Since August 2022, a public health crisis has occurred in Jackson, Mississippi due to flooding and the destruction of the city's water treatment plant. Although the drinking water problem has been partially resolved, residents still lack trust in the water. Many everyday tasks have become difficult without clean water. The issue is complex for people to access bottled water due to lack of time or transportation. Older people are also unable to leave their homes to get water. This crisis highlights the importance of investing in infrastructure and addressing historically racist policies that have led to lack of funding for Jackson. The Clean Water Act has not been implemented effectively in this case. The water crisis has resulted in environmental issues and disproportionately affects lower-income communities. It is crucial to address this issue for public health and ensure equal access to clean water. And I'm Jonas, your co-host. So in this podcast, we'll be covering the crisis happening in Jackson, Mississippi, where ever since August 2022, a public health crisis arose after Pearl River flooded. Due to severe storms, destroying the city's main water treatment plant, which had already flooded previously in July, and forced residents to boil their water in order for it to be safe to drink. We have an exclusive interview with University of Mississippi scientist Griffin Fisher to tell you about what exactly is happening in Jackson. Hello Griffin. Hi. So Griffin, when did the issue first start? This issue first started in late August of 2022, when the main water treatment plant, called Obie Curtis, shut down. This led to about 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi, without clean water. Oh no. Has this issue been resolved? Yes, partially. They have solved the drinking water problem, but people still do not trust the water because they think it could harm them. Well, why is this issue need fixing? Well, people need clean water. And now, without this, many residents of Jackson, Mississippi, are having to adjust to many everyday tasks becoming much more difficult. Why is it so hard for people to get bottled water through drive-thrus or deliveries? For many residents of Jackson, it just is not that simple. Many people do not have time to sit that into their day or even have a good working car. I also heard that a lot of older people can't leave their house to get water. Is that true? Yes, it's true. And how does this affect the rest of the U.S.? Many people are concerned about incidents like this happening elsewhere in the U.S. Well, what can we do to prevent this from happening? Well, we need to put money in our infrastructure, along with maintaining things like our pipes, draining systems, and flood barrier. How have historically racist policies, such as red lighting, school segregation, and others resulted in this issue? We have seen a lack of funding for infrastructure for Jackson and many residents having a very low income as a result. That has made this crisis much harder to deal with. What is the Clean Water Act? The Clean Water Act was enacted in 1938 and establishes that there is a structure for regulating pollutants and standards of water. How has this crisis shown the importance that this act has? Well, obviously the state has not lived up to this act and has not implemented these standards. Well, then what can we do? We need to invest more into the well-being of our water treatment plants in our cities. Thank you, Griffin. Here are some interesting and supporting facts about the water crisis. So, due to the lack of infrastructure funds in 2019, about three billion gallons of sewage will need to come to Pearl River, causing many environmental problems to the surrounding ecosystems. Environmental response will cost millions of dollars if they want to resolve all of the issues. This issue affects many residents in Jackson disproportionately. Due to the economic ability to afford bottled water, many people are doing their best to help, such as retiree Fran Bridges, who has helped run a bottled water distribution. This is taking a large hit on the lives of people in Jackson. They cannot do their normal tasks like drinking water, taking showers, or even washing their clothes and dishes. Over 180,000 people were put on boil watch, which is when your water is too polluted, you have to boil to remove the bacteria, because it is very unhealthy at the time to consume. How does this issue relate to justice and are all demographics equally impacted? Not everyone has equal resources, because while some people have access to clean drinking water, other people, like the residents of Jackson, Mississippi, cannot get clean drinking water out of their tap. People who are not as wealthy do not have as much access to bottled water, because it can get costly, so then they don't have as much water to drink, and that's very unhealthy. In conclusion, for many residents of Jackson, Mississippi, this issue has taken a toll on their daily lifestyle for months. It has shown the racist policies and how issues like this disproportionately affect lower-income communities and how the investment in water systems are important for public health. This issue is of major concern to the population of the United States, and everyone hopes that issues like this are not frequent. Thank you for listening to our podcast about the Jackson, Mississippi water problem. Thanks for coming in, Griffin. No problem. Thanks for having me. And if you enjoyed this podcast, make sure to leave us a post, and we're going to have the next episode coming out within a week, so make sure to stay tuned for that, and have a great rest of your day. Yep, thank you. Thanks. You are important to Jackson, Mississippi. Yeah, you can always donate to the cause. And have a good rest of your day. Thank you.