Mississippi residents hit with another 'boil water' notice as extreme cold brings pressure drops

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) notified residents with a “boil water” advisory notice as water pressure drops amid extreme cold temperatures in the state. 

In separate news releases, MSDH said that the City of Jackson Water/Sewer Utilities Division has issued a precautionary boil water advisory for its residents and Romola Water Association (RWA) in Claiborne County issued a Boil-Water Alert advisory for residents who receive drinking water from their water supply. 

RWA said that it also notified MSDH officials due to one or more line breaks caused by a system-wide pressure loss. 

A precautionary boil water advisory is issued when water pressure is lost in individual water systems, as water systems are required to notify customers about the latest alerts. 

“When a distribution system loses pressure, contaminants can siphon back into the water. Public health officials consider any system that loses pressure contaminated until tests prove otherwise,” MSDH said in its news release. “Health officials strongly recommend that all water be boiled vigorously for one minute before it is consumed.”

The move comes after the city of  Jackson, Miss., experienced a boil water advisory and water outage earlier this year after being one of the areas in the state severely hit by massive flooding. 

Lawmakers in both chambers recently passed a $1.7 trillion spending package last week that will include $600 million toward fixing Mississippi’s capital city water system, as the flawed system almost collapsed during August's water outage crisis.