Privatization Helped Make Jackson, Mississippi’s Water Undrinkable
Mississippi is weighing the privatization of Jackson’s water. But parts of that water system have already been privatized — and the results have been disastrous.
Members of Progressive Morningstar Baptist Church move cases of water following a Sunday morning service in Jackson, Mississippi, on September 4, 2022. (Seth Herald / AFP via Getty Images)
The federal government is investigating why the state of Mississippi has failed to adequately fund the Jackson water system, after the city’s water crisis left 180,000 residents without clean water for much of August and September.
The news comes as Mississippi’s Republican governor Tate Reeves has been moving to privatize the city’s water system, meaning a private company would take over the system, allegedly to improve the city’s water quality.
In truth, Jackson has already worked with two private companies on parts of its water system, although these companies do not own the infrastructure. The results have been disastrous — and in some cases, helped lead to the most recent crisis. While these partnerships differ from privatization because the city still owns the utilities, they are a harbinger of what privatization could entail.
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