Jackson’s Water Crisis Highlights the Need For Investment in Climate Resilient Infrastructure

Following a 32-day boil water notice, devastating flooding left Jackson, Mississippi’s residents without clean water. Mississippi is set to receive $425 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but many worry that the GOP state government won’t allocate needed funding to Jackson.

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In the last days of August, Jackson, Mississippi experienced devastating flooding, rising to 35.37 feet, which left 180,000 of the city’s residents without access to clean, running water. This summer, one of Mississippi's hottest in recent years, had already placed Jackson under a month-long boil-water notice. The Jackson water crisis foreshadows a worrisome future for Southern cities—a future where climate change compounds the problems already present from crumbling infrastructure and systemic inequalities.