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Cousins! In efforts of helping to rebuild the water structure of Jackson, Mississippi President Joe Biden has recently announced that he will be awarding the city with $115 million dollars!
“For years, the people of Jackson, Mississippi, have suffered the consequences of aging water infrastructure,” said Biden in a forwarded statement to TheGrio.
The city is currently occupied by over 150,000 Black residents and has undergone extremely devastating occurrences following a 2022 incident that caused their water system to collapse in connection to major flooding and neglected infrastructure. Back in August thousands of residents were left without clean and drinking water reports TheGrio. Fast forward to today and residents are still facing the same difficulties.
U.S officials have declared the incident is under a state of emergency as they are currently offering technical assistance and support. The federal award grant is apart of $600 million dollars in funding approved by congress in 2022.
“For years, the people of Jackson, Mississippi, have suffered the consequences of aging water infrastructure,” said President Biden.
“All Americans deserve access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s why I directed my Administration to make sure the people of Jackson have the resources they need and deserve.”
Senior adviser to President Biden and coordinator for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Mitch Landrieu says the $115 million will be added to the hundreds of millions of dollars already being poured into the state. “Monies had already been sent down – $25 million very early – another $450 million to the state, and $75 million on top of that,”
He added, “there’s a significant amount of money that can flow to the states through [the Environmental Protection Agency] to help with water and sewer systems in cities.”
Per TheGrio, a federal court recently ruled in favor of the U.S. Department of Justice to install a third-party outside manager as part of an agreement between the city and the Mississippi State Department of Health as federal, state and local parties work together on a path forward to improve a decades-old problem in one of the country’s poorest cities.