Water service in Jackson, Mississippi, disrupted for over a week amid plant malfunction

(JACKSON, Miss.) — A malfunction at a water treatment plant has caused days of headaches for residents and businesses in Jackson, Mississippi.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s office told ABC News that water leaks at O.B. Curtis Water Plant on Jan. 23 led to water pressure problems for residents in high elevation areas.

Some of the affected buildings include schools, which have had to switch to remote learning, the mayor’s office said.

Repairs have been ongoing, but the plant still needs work, according to the city.

City Engineer Charles Williams told ABC affiliate WAPT that operators ran into problems over the weekend with the plant’s turbidity — the cloudiness or haziness in the water that’s not visible to the naked eye.

“We have been able to make some gains this morning and going into this afternoon and will continue to work tonight and tomorrow and the next day in order to achieve the proper level in our storage tank,” Williams told the station.

The mayor’s office said last week it distributed 1,656 cases of bottled water to needy residents.

While the cause of the malfunction is still under investigation, the mayor’s office said its water and sewer systems are dealing with “outdated infrastructure, coupled with extreme weather.”

“The city of Jackson is doing everything it can with the resources it has to update and modernize its systems and provide residents consistency and reliability in the future,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.