Such a lovely state, Mississippi.
While the GOP-controlled legislature keeps thinking of new ways to cut taxes on corporations, the state is falling apart for its mostly poor residents:
More than 150,000 people in Mississippi’s capital were without access to safe drinking water on Tuesday, as officials confronted what they described as the “massively complicated task” of distributing bottled water and devising a plan to restore service.
The water system in Jackson, the state’s largest city, has been in crisis for years, crippled by aging and inadequate infrastructure and the lack of resources to bolster it. Residents have long contended with disruptions in service and frequent boil-water notices, including one that had already been in effect for more than a month because of cloudiness found in water samples.
The situation worsened this week as officials said that the city’s largest water treatment plant was failing. Homes and businesses were left with little to no water pressure. And officials warned that whatever did flow from faucets was not safe to consume, as it was probably untreated water that was coming straight from the city’s reservoir.
“Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,” Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi said during an emergency briefing on Monday evening. “It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs.”
You can read the rest here.