In light of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was recently approved by the U.S. Senate, currently awaiting passage in the House, this week I want to get into the weeds on what this bill could mean for Southern cities beset by water crises. Jackson, Mississippi, made headlines back in February when an unprecedented winter storm hit the region, buckling the city’s aging water infrastructure and leaving residents for weeks and months at a time without access to a water supply or adequate water pressure.
This new legislation, however, has the potential to be a difference-maker for Jackson and cities like it—and we want to figure out how.
That brings me to my guest this week, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, a professor of urban and regional studies at Jackson State University and the former director of planning and development for the city of Jackson. He explains what’s behind a public water system’s social contract, and what begins to happen once that contract is broken as a result of a dilapidated system.
I’m also cooking up ginger slices this week. Catch the recipe once you finish the interview.
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 Xander Peters: In what ways was Jackson set up for the type of institutional failure we saw during February’s deep freeze?
Mukesh Kumar: We have well over 111 square miles of city to provide services to. Now, we're down to about 160,000 residents. That translates to about 60,000 to 70,000 households. Whenever you have that level of density, it almost becomes a no-brainer that at some point in time, you're going to run into serious service delivery issues. And then on top of it, the other major problem is that when the Clean Water Act was passed, the federal government basically made a whole lot of money available to many municipalities to build their public water systems. But even at that point in time, nobody figured out how you would maintain the system in the longer term. A lot of that was happening in the ‘70s, early ‘80s. Most of that stuff is about 50 years old. That's what you're seeing not only in Jackson, but in many cities across the country. ... When the hard freeze hit [in February], [there were] already some ongoing issues and then suddenly, you find yourself into a perpetual weather event.
XP: So, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. What do you think should be done going forward?
MK: Generally, I think most municipal water supply systems or public works systems, they are going to need help. When we say help, largely, it's going to be two areas. One is financing of infrastructure, because quite a bit of it is going to have to be replaced. Many municipalities simply do not have the resources to be able to do that. And then on top of it, it also requires some amount of technical expertise—which, again, the federal government probably is in a pretty good position to provide.
When you turn on your tap, you expect clean water to come out, and then you pay your bill once a month and expect that somehow these two things should work like clockwork, and there is nothing else that's happening behind it. [However], it’s a very complex system that people have to maintain and operate. If you don't have the adequate amount of resources, adequate ability to systematically think about it, it's always going to be a challenge. The way I see it right now, without federal assistance, this is going to be a tall order. I don't see how many American cities actually come out of this water crisis.
XP: What other cities across the country are facing similar issues as Jackson?
MK: Every water system is going to have two major components. You have a distribution system, and then a production system. When you look at Baltimore, or Cleveland, or Pittsburgh, these are all cities who have had aging infrastructure, and a lot of them actually also faced issues with lead contamination. In each of those cases, you could say that a lot of the infrastructure was built prior to the Clean Water Act in the early '70s. They did not build [these systems] according to specifications. But since then, they have been making some investment, and some have done a better job than the others. But then you also have the other set of challenges in which you have the water intake problem. Atlanta is a classic example of where water intake itself is a bit of a problem because they draw their water from a watershed that has lost quite a bit of extra water and carrying capacity...
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Southerly, Drilling News, & WWNO, Sara Sneath
“Nearly half of known Gulf of Mexico worker fatalities didn’t fit the agency’s reporting criteria.”
USA Today/The American South, Andrew J. Yawn
“That’s the goal for Virginia Hanusik, a New Orleans-based photographer whose work has been featured in National Geographic and The New Yorker among other publications.”
Southerly, Jenn Hayes
“Many rural jails and prisons face environmental pollution and flooding, but they aren’t often considered in emergency planning.”
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The Times Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, Tristan Baurick
“Rising seas, sinking soil, storms threaten Pass-a-Loutre, once the state's 'wickedest spot.'”
The Texas Observer, Amal Ahmed
"Sunrise activists said they would hold President Biden’s feet to the fire on climate policy. With their latest round of activism around the Civilian Climate Corps, they’re making good on that promise.”
The Texas Tribune, Erin Douglas
“The state plans to use past weather data to craft rules for power plant upgrades. Scientists warn that the accelerating effects of climate change make relying on old data alone insufficient.”
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Ginger slices
The Ingredients:
- 1 packet tea biscuits
- 1 3/4 cup butter
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 4 tablespoons condensed milk
- 2 cups icing sugar
The Steps:
- Prepare a square tin with baking paper and set aside, and then spray it with a little cooking spray to help the paper keep from sticking to your ginger slices.
- Crush the biscuits in a food processor until you have a fine crumb.
- Add the biscuits to a medium bowl.
- Melt the butter in a small microwave-proof bowl for 30 seconds, or until melted.
- Add the ginger, brown sugar, and condensed milk, and then stir well to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the crushed biscuits and stir well.
- Spoon the biscuit mixture into the prepared tin and spread out evenly and firmly, pressing into the corners.
- Set aside or place in the refrigerator to cool. Once cool, prepare the icing.
- In a small bowl, add together the melted butter, sifted icing sugar, ginger, and vanilla, and then mix well to combine, ensuring no lumps remain.
- Spoon this thick icing over the cooled slice and spread evenly.
- Allow the full slice to set in the refrigerator before slicing. When ready to slice, remove the tin from the refrigerator 20 minutes beforehand to allow it to come slightly to room temperature to make cutting easier.
- Remove from the baking paper. Using a sharp knife, cut into even squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator when not serving.
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I hope you got enough to eat. There’ll be enough to go around next week and the week after.
—Xander
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