No clean water in Jackson, Miss.
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2022
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., reached its tipping point. Plus, one Peruvian farmer’s fight for climate justice.
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The capital city of Jackson, Miss., has been without drinkable tap water since late July. But this isn’t the first time there’s been a water crisis in the majority-Black town.
“I think what's really been lost is that there was a crisis in Jackson long before,” reporter Emmanuel Felton says, “And what had been going on for years was really almost constant boil water notifications.”
Residents say sewage is spilling into backyards and people are getting rashes and lumps from the water. “It’s horrible, it’s horrible, everything is horrible,” resident Tammie Williams says. “And it’s it’s a disaster, really, you know? Disaster.”
Today on Post Reports, Felton explains how the water crisis in Jackson got so dire, and whether there’s any end in sight.
Plus, we bring you to the mountains of Peru, where one farmer is trying to save his city from drowning by suing one of the biggest carbon emitters in the world. The case could set a precedent for holding polluters accountable for harming the planet. Reporter Sarah Kaplan has more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Jackson, Mississippi, there has been no drinkable tap water since late July. |
| 0:09.0 | It's horrible. |
| 0:10.0 | It's horrible. |
| 0:11.0 | Everything is horrible. |
| 0:13.0 | And it's a disaster. |
| 0:15.0 | It's a disaster, you know, disaster, you know. |
| 0:18.0 | That's Tammy Williams, she lives in Jackson. |
| 0:21.0 | She told Postreporter Immanuel Felton that the water is giving her family rashes and lumps, |
| 0:26.0 | even though the city told residents that they could bathe in the water. |
| 0:29.0 | Do you ever think about leaving Jackson or going to the beach? |
| 0:32.0 | Yeah, I mean, I mean, everybody's like, you know what, we get out of here. |
| 0:36.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:37.0 | We get out here. |
| 0:38.0 | We get out here first smoking. |
| 0:39.0 | I said, how are we going to go? |
| 0:40.0 | Where are we going to? |
| 0:41.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:42.0 | And it's like, how are we going to get there? |
| 0:43.0 | I said, man, we're going to do something to get out of here. |
| 0:45.0 | But it's like it's horrible though, you know, the state we live in is straight poverty, you know. |
| 0:50.0 | If you try to do anything, you get ahead and get far and far. |
| 0:55.0 | Jackson is a majority black city with more than 150,000 residents. |
... |
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