The City of Jackson Surface Water System was severely impacted by flooding in late August 2022. On August 30, 2022, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency for Jackson, Mississippi’s water system.

As a result of flooding complications and reduced water output, the city of Jackson water system lacked sufficient pressure to sustain adequate access to flush toilets and maintain optimal disinfection for drinking water. The Mississippi State Department of Health, issued a Declaration of a Public Drinking Water Supply Emergency in the City of Jackson ordering the City to immediately cooperate with state response teams and contractors deployed to augment current staffing and to take remediation actions deemed necessary by the State Incident Commander. The Governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, declared an emergency for the City of Jackson due to the effect on essential government services, medical facilities, and schools. A Unified Command was established to combat this emergency and investigate the water quality and quantity issues in the Jackson water system. All the sites were sampled by US EPA Region 4 Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division (LSASD) at the request of the Unified Command. The sample locations were identified by Unified Command and collected Sept. 20-21, 2022.

The 40 Water Quality Parameter (WQP) sites were sampled as part of the Enhanced Distribution Study at sites throughout the Jackson distribution system. Turbidity, chlorine, pH were measured on site and samples were collected for alkalinity, ammonia, nitrate plus nitrite, and total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN).

The 3 points of system entry near the Clear Well Tanks were sampled for National Primary Drinking Water Contaminants.

The 8 disinfection by-product (DBP) sample locations are point of interests in the Jackson distribution system and were sampled for total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic acids (HHA5s).

Storage tanks provide storage capacity in the Jackson distribution system.