Update: Two hours after this article was published, the MSDH decided to lift the boil water notice in Jackson.
Jackson officials are doubling down in saying that the capital city’s water is safe to drink.
On Friday morning, third-party water managing system JXN Water revealed that it had gotten the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) to retest all six samples the agency had previously said were contaminated with E. coli, and none of the bacteria was to be found.
“The six repeated samples – taken from the sample locations with the positive results reported on January 11, 2024, and the nearest upstream and downstream sample locations – were taken and delivered to the state laboratory on January 11, 2024. The state laboratory notified JXN Water this morning that all six samples were negative – no E. coli was present,” a press release read.
On Thursday, the MSDH issued a boil-water notice for Jackson and neighboring suburb Flowood. Ted Henifin, who leads JXN Water, argued after that the alert was premature as it is highly unlikely that two separate water systems had the same contamination on the same day and the results were likely a false positive.
“Confirmation is an integral part of the process as defined in the EPA Total Coliform Rule to ensure there were no sampling or analysis errors before taking action that can needlessly scare consumers and create significant impact to water-related businesses in the service area,” Henifin reiterated on Friday.
“I still do not understand why the Mississippi State Department of Health issued the city-wide boil water notice before confirming the initial results. The damage to confidence in our system and economic impact to our area businesses is enormous.”
Although the MSDH has agreed that the initial test samples were false positives, it is not agreeing to lift the boil water alerts in Jackson and Flowood – which have a combined population of over 160,000 – until each city submits two consecutive days’ worth of clean samples.
For the rest of Friday and through Saturday, JXN Water will continue to conduct sampling of all 120 sample locations to ensure the MSDH lifts the boil water notice as soon as possible.
