海角大神

This isn鈥檛 how Marie McClendon envisioned her Friday afternoon. Ahead of her vehicle is a long line of cars, idling in an abandoned mall鈥檚 parking lot in Jackson, Mississippi. It鈥檚 a聽dystopian scene, albeit with National Guard members scurrying about the open space to offer aid. Each car receives two cases of bottled water. She fans herself, shakes her head, and moves up in line.聽聽

Ms. McClendon grew up in Meridian, a city about an hour and a half away from the Mississippi capital here in Jackson. Ms. McClendon, her fianc茅, and her daughter relocated to Jackson six years ago. Access to clean, safe drinking water has become a defining issue during their family鈥檚 time here. In fact, residents have been under a citywide boil-water notice since at least late July. As their family learned, the city鈥檚 boil-water notice was just聽a hint of the challenges to come.

Early last week, as the region flooded, the city鈥檚 O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant failed, leading to a chemical imbalance in the city鈥檚 drinking water supply. The system failure indefinitely eliminated Jacksonians鈥� access to clean drinking water. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state emergency the next day; roughly 600 National Guard members were deployed to help distribute bottled water to the city鈥檚 residents. President Joe Biden then declared a national emergency that authorized the coordination of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to join in the city鈥檚 aid.

Even amid the state and federal efforts to help, those who call Jackson home say they鈥檝e begun to feel left behind.聽The sense of being second-class citizens in their own state鈥檚 capital is particularly stinging because this is a heavily Black city, so the water failure cuts along racial lines. And although the case of Jackson is extreme, such gaps based on race as well as income persist even in a nation where access to clean water is mostly taken for granted. A 2019 report from the Natural Resources Defense Council found that drinking water systems that constantly violated federal safety standards were 40% more likely to occur in places with higher percentages of residents of color.

鈥淚 ain鈥檛 never seen nothing like this,鈥� Ms. McClendon says, pointing to guard members as they heave cases of water into the car in front of her. 鈥淲ith this being the capital, the government should have never let it get this far.鈥�

Decades of demographic change

Unlike last week鈥檚 flooding, the city of Jackson鈥檚 dysfunction didn鈥檛 occur overnight. Its water system woes were decades in the making, local officials and urban planning experts alike say.

In 1960, Jackson boasted a population of roughly 148,000 鈥� of whom 64% were white, 36% African American. But in a decade marked by civil rights bills and school desegregation, as well as the resulting racially charged backlash across the country, a聽white-led聽exodus from Jackson and other American metropolitan cities ensued. In later decades, while Jackson聽reached a聽1990 peak of roughly 200,000 citizens,聽rising crime became a factor that contributed to further losses of聽Jackson鈥檚 middle-class population to the surrounding suburbs.

The tax base that was the city鈥檚 foundation 鈥� which funds Jackson鈥檚 water and other public systems 鈥� began to disintegrate. Today, income for roughly 1 in 4 Jackson residents is below the federal poverty line. Its racial demographics have also shifted. About 16% of the city鈥檚 roughly 163,000 population today is white; 82%, Black.聽

鈥淭his is a set of accumulated problems based on deferred maintenance that鈥檚 not taken place over decades,鈥� Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in a press conference last week, referring to the underfunding the city experiences as officials work to help systems keep pace.

Mayor Lumumba estimated that the city鈥檚 water system requires up to $1 billion in repairs.

Former city employees worry that the mayor鈥檚 recent estimate is too low, given that the Jackson water system encompasses more than 1,500 miles of water mains across its sprawling space.

Mukesh Kumar ran Jackson鈥檚 Department of Planning and Development from 2017 to 2019. Until a recent move to Waco, Texas, he was also a professor of urban studies at Jackson State University. In his recollection of internal conversations during his time employed with the city of Jackson, Dr. Kumar recalls officials citing estimates of up to $2 billion in needed investments.聽

The city鈥檚 annual budget hovers around roughly $300 million.

Chronic underfunding for infrastructure was matched, experts say, by a deeper fraying of the social contract between the city and community.聽聽

One way to view a city, Dr. Kumar says, is as聽a set of institutions that creates an enabling environment in which a community can thrive. If functioning well, one basic result of this social contract is to confirm and support the dignity that citizens have.

鈥淲ater systems, police, the roadways 鈥� they all end up being part of that enabling infrastructure. ... That鈥檚 what that social contract often presents,鈥� Dr. Kumar says. 鈥淥nce you lose that, it takes a long time to rebuild. It鈥檚 a very slow process. It鈥檚 not something that happens overnight.鈥�

A recent survey by Blueprint Polling, an associate company of the Mississippi-based Chism Strategies, suggests that city and state elected leaders alike face a tough road ahead in regaining citizens鈥� trust. Of the nearly 500 Jackson residents who were included in the phone survey last week, roughly 55% agreed that Governor Reeves鈥� handling of the crisis was either totally unacceptable or poor. Mayor Lumumba registered slightly better with the survey鈥檚 respondents, as nearly 47% of those included said that his response was either totally unacceptable or poor.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e lost my trust鈥�

The poll suggests a breakdown in trust 鈥� the core of that unspoken social contract. In interviews, Jackson residents confirm that feeling.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very bad,鈥� says Kim Baptiste, a Jackson resident who recently relocated from Dallas, of the current state of the city. 鈥淗ow can you fill a pot with dirty water to boil it? That鈥檚 just crazy.鈥�

It鈥檚 Friday afternoon, and Ms. Baptiste is hoping to have the water turned on in her new apartment in town, even if the water has been deemed unsanitary. That鈥檚 what鈥檚 brought her to the front steps of Jackson鈥檚 Water and Sewage Administration鈥檚 office during her lunch break. (Over the weekend, the city said water pressure has been restored to most city customers.)

In a rush, she strides over to the building鈥檚 doors and jerks on them twice. It鈥檚 part of the same abandoned mall complex from which National Guard members are distributing bottled water. However, the building鈥檚 doors are locked. A Water and Sewage Administration employee walks over to Ms. Baptiste and the others standing outside to tell them the office closed early for the afternoon due to the office鈥檚 air conditioning system not working.

Ms. Baptiste describes the afternoon as one that鈥檚 typical of her time in Jackson so far.

Cathy Johnson, a lifelong Jackson resident, is also locked out of paying her water bill today. Like Ms. Baptiste and others, she, too, was turned away during the time she鈥檇 taken from her lunch break. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sad that you go to get the feds to come in and fix your stuff,鈥� she says.

To win back public trust, the effort must stretch beyond city leaders, Dr. Kumar says. It鈥檚 an investment that should be made collectively. 鈥淢eaning that the city of Jackson doesn鈥檛 just belong to the people who live in the boundaries,鈥� Dr. Kumar explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem that exists for the state, that exists for the country as a whole.鈥�

The road to recovery for Jackson likely consists of a 10-to-20-year project that will call for the replacement of old pipes and upgrading treatment plants. In December, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that nearly $75 million in federal water and sewer infrastructure funds would be made available to Mississippi this year through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.聽聽

In the eyes of many here, the federal funding came too little, and too late.

After her wait, Ms. McClendon is at the front of the bottled water distribution site. She鈥檚 hot, tired, and busy 鈥� and she knows it likely won鈥檛 be her last wait for bottled water in coming days.

She leans over her steering wheel and sighs. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e lost my trust,鈥� she says, referring to the city. 鈥淭hey shouldn鈥檛 have let it get this far.鈥�