Published on : 08/09/2022 – 06:32
An entire city deprived of drinking water in the United States: the 150,000 inhabitants of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi must boil water before using it. Devastating floods have knocked out the dilapidated power supply network of this poor and black city in the south of the country. The army was even deployed to distribute bottles of water to exasperated residents.
With our special correspondent in Jackson, David Thomson
Cars pass in large numbers on this water distribution site installed in emergency by the national guard in the center of Jackson. Car trunks are opened by soldiers in fatigues who drop thousands of packs of water bottles into them.
Undrinkable
Gary comes here to stock up every day. He has no choice, because his tap water is undrinkable: “ In my house, the water is brown! She’s been brown for three weeks! I can’t do anything with this water! I can’t even wash myself! I have to travel miles to shower and do my laundry with relatives. This situation is sad. It’s the fault of our politicians, they’re the ones who did this and let us down! »
Like him, the 150,000 inhabitants of Jackson are deprived of drinking water. At the end of August, record flooding put a water treatment plant out of use. Result: last week, the running water was completely cut off. If the pressure is now restored, there is no question of drinking this contaminated water, unless you boil it, warns the town hall.
Brain teaser
A permanent headache for residents like Christie, a 37-year-old cleaning lady and mother of a large family: “ I have eight children and I need lots of water. Boiling water is too much work. So for baths, for brushing teeth, for cooking, we use bottles. It’s really stressful. »
Jackson, the capital of Mississippi is yet another reminder of the inequalities in the United States. Here, 80% of the inhabitants are African-American and one in four lives below the poverty line.
►Also read : United States: the capital of Mississippi without water for a week