Right now there is an entire city that for four days has been left without access to clean water. The people of Jackson Mississippi are living in a full crisis and there is nothing being done about it. Having access to clean water in Jackson Mississippi has been a problem for many years but has become significantly worse these past few weeks. There are even citizens in Jackson that have claimed that they haven’t had access to clean water for over a year. 

Last winter temperatures got so low that there was a freeze that caused the water systems to shut down and many citizens’ pipes to burst. That was just a small glimpse of the issues Jackson would face. The entire crisis has revealed the lack of government involvement in the inner-city area of Jackson, Mississippi. Citizens have been begging not only for solutions to the lack of clean water, but to many other issues over the years such as, infrastructure issues and broken roads. Each time they have received no response and felt disregarded. 

“It highlights the failure of both local, state, and federal governments to respond to rapidly changing climate issues,” said World History Teacher Mr. Oftedal when asked about his opinion on the Jackson Water crisis. This is how many others are feeling right now about the crisis. 

The water crisis which began on August 29 was caused by the Pearl River overflowing after a record rainfall. The pipes in the main water treatment plant, which were already failing, completely broke leaving the city with no safe water. The water pressure has now been restored but is still not safe to drink or ingest. Because of climate change, weather and especially rainfall are changing more rapidly than the environment can handle, resulting in increased natural disasters such as the floods. The water crisis is an example of how climate change is going to continue to affect our water supply and many other aspects of our lives. 

Senior Hansen Streeter, the president of the San Marcos Sustainable Future Club said, “It’s upsetting to me how water is such a basic necessity that should be abundant, yet due to the human species actions it’s causing detrimental effects to our basic needs.” 

Due to our actions against the climate and a lack of government regulation we have failed an entire city. We can only hope that Jackson will have their water restored quickly and things will start to look up for them.