Jackson’s mayor could be in trouble over water quality comments

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba “may have misinformed the public” on the status of the Mississippi city’s water “and the alleged’ danger.” said Judge Henry Wingate, who set a hearing.

The mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, has landed himself in the hot seat over comments concerning the city’s water quality.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba will have to answer to a federal judge during a June 21 status hearing regarding the comments he made at a recent press conference, according to WLBT News.

Judge Henry Wingate set the hearing on the city’s continuing water issue last week, one day after Lumumba announced a new partnership to provide water filters to vulnerable individuals.

The judge expressed particular concern that the mayor’s comments on the city’s water treatment efforts “may have misinformed the public as to the current status of Jackson’s water quality,” and any “danger” from the alleged presence of various chemical substances.

Wingate quoted remarks by Lumumba on June 14, when the mayor announced the city was collaborating with United Healthcare and the Hinds County Comprehensive Health to provide water filters to the most disadvantaged citizens.

“We know for several months now residents have been quarterly receiving notifications about the potential threats based on how we treat our water,” Lumumba reportedly said, “and the agents that we use in order to treat our water, [and] the potential threats to… pregnant mothers and mothers who have young children.”

The mayor explained that the city uses soda ash to clean its water and that residents would continue receiving warnings until the system is switched over to a different method.

For many years, Jackson’s water problems have been centered on the city’s soda ash system.

Before the water crisis in August 2022, Lumumba claimed that the increased number of boil-water notices was due to the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant turning off soda ash during the winterization process.

A class-action lawsuit was brought against the city and others in September, partly because of the design and installation of a soda ash system that the city’s water treatment system was never intended to handle.

“This court is concerned whether the mayor’s comments comport with the progress that has been made on water quality by the efforts of the Interim Third-Party Manager, Ted Henifin,” Wingate wrote, WLBT reported.

Henifin was chosen to manage Jackson’s water system as part of a federal takeover in November.

On Tuesday, Lumumba stood by the remarks Wingate took issue with and said was looking forward to talking with the judge and “clearing up any ambiguity,” WJTV reported.

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