Providing Safe and Reliable Water and Sewer Services to All Jackson Residents

Jackson’s water infrastructure is changing for the better and significant progress continues to be made to restore public trust and deliver safe and reliable drinking water and sewer services.

Background

For decades, the drinking water system in Jackson, Mississippi — the state’s capitol and the largest city — had well-documented service and reliability challenges with its treatment plants and distribution system coupled with changing population dynamics and historically low rates.

Unprecedented factors converged in August 2022, when severe storms, flooding and power issues overwhelmed the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. As a result, a service interruption and temporary excursion from expected effluent water quality affected many of the city’s residents’ access to potable water for weeks.

In November 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice appointed JXN Water, Inc., an interim third-party manager, to stabilize Jackson’s water system. In turn, JXN Water assembled a team of consultants to help implement system recovery efforts. HDR was enlisted as part of that team to provide professional engineering and strategic communications services in support of Jackson’s water system improvements.

Renewing a Water Treatment Plant

We are designing improvements to increase the design life, reliability, safety and resiliency of the O.B. Curtis WTP. Our efforts have included an initial facility condition assessment that resulted in recommendations for the most immediate improvement needs. Subsequently, we designed new chemical feed and sodium hypochlorite disinfection systems so that operators can properly dose chemicals to the right processes within the plant.

Future efforts will include:

• Updating the corrosion control strategy for Lead and Copper Rule compliance
• Evaluating and upgrading the WTP electrical systems to improve resiliency and optimize operations
• Improving mechanical and chemical systems at the raw water intake structure

System Stabilization Communication and Rebuilding Public Trust

While strengthening the city’s water infrastructure, there was also a need to restore customer trust and confidence in the city’s system. We partnered with JXN Water to establish a communications and engagement strategy to set a foundation for demonstrating the progress being made daily and tangible and compelling visuals that tell the JXN Water story through its projects.

Guided by data, community-oriented design and public involvement best practices, we also created an interactive, GIS-based equity atlas to inform public outreach with the full context of community analytics, which informs the utility’s efforts to navigate engagement for ongoing court-ordered priority projects.

Part of the foundation setting also included advising on crisis communications, stakeholder engagement, media relations, as well as the utility’s brand strategy that governs all content, website, social media and video production. We managed the public outreach for all court-ordered priority projects and regulatory compliance in partnership with other engineering consultants. Rooted in the local dynamics, HDR was intentional on assisting JXN Water with the creation of a position focused on social impact for the utility that now conducts the day-to-day communication and outreach efforts. We continue to provide creative support to the JXN Water team as needed.

A Multidisciplinary Team for Interconnected Challenges

Jackson, like many cities, faces interconnected challenges with water infrastructure, including affordability, population decline and aging infrastructure. Our multidisciplinary team works with JXN Water to support its efforts to build a better future for the system. Through facility management and a modernized system, drinking water is being delivered to homes and businesses much more reliably. With transparent and empathic communications, community trust is being rebuilt and consumer confidence continues to grow.