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“It presented a very serene beauty. It had such beautiful sandbars. It’s a beautiful fountain.’
A water connection advisory continues for the Pearl River in Mississippi.
Chris Lockhart, owner of Capital City Kayak Adventures, talks about the value of the Pearl River as water connection advice continues.
Barbara Gaunt, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
It stinks. Jackson’s failing infrastructure and overflowing sewers have been pouring millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Pearl River for years, and the health damage — and the smell — is hurting those who care most about the river.
Wesley McMurrin of Pearl said he enjoys kayaking on the Pearl River near Jackson because it’s convenient, but drainage issues limit his enjoyment. One of the fun things to do is to explore the streams that enter the river when the water level allows, but some of them do not return.
“I picked up Purple Creek and man, it was so bad,” McMurrin said. “It was so bad I didn’t come back.
“The pipes are broken. No one takes care of the pipes, I go out all the streams and they smell. It only shows when we have money, it doesn’t go into the city (infra) structure.”
Although he avoided the currents that flow in the Jackson and Pearl River, he is still paddling in the river, but this is the relationship with the water.
“I’m sure you’re not going to jump in the water,” McMurrin said. “I see people swimming but they are the younger generation, mostly 16 to 20 years old. They don’t watch the news.”
Kayak, Canoe in the Mississippi What you need to know about paddleways, the new blueway
Jackson Drain; Jackson residents have reported a raw sewage spill on Northside Drive, which isn’t the first time.
50 million gallons of raw sewage was released in Jackson
The latest news on the situation comes from the City of Jackson’s quarterly report on sewers prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the report, from April to June, more than 50 million gallons of raw sewage flowed into Jackson area waterways. About 20 million gallons of raw sewage flowed into Town Creek and into the river.
Reports of sewage flowing into waterways from Jackson are business as usual. Sewage and E. coli bacteria leading to the Pearl River from Jackson’s Purple Creek to the Byram Swinging Bridge have prompted a water connection advisory from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba gave information about the city’s water.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba gave information about the city’s water.
Barbara Gaunt, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
The water contact advisory basically says people should stay away from the water and not eat anything that comes out of it.
It has been going on for four years.
Boiling water notes; A treatment that causes boil water alerts will continue to be used for a year, the mayor said.
raw sewage; Millions of gallons of raw sewage flowed into Town Creek over a three-month period, the city says
The Pearl River drainage is very dangerous for the kayak business.
For Christopher Lockhart, owner of Capital City Kayak Adventures, which offers kayak rentals, health concerns have forced him to change his business.
“We’d put it in at the (Ross Barnett Reservoir) spillway or we’d put it in the Mays Lake Campground at Leffler Bluff State Park,” Lockhart said. “This is no longer our workplace.
“We didn’t put it in there for three years because of the no-contact advisory from the MDEQ.”
Lockhart said he felt he was putting his customers’ health at risk.
“I can’t in good conscience put them there. We just can’t take advantage of those opportunities.”
Located in Rankin County across the Jackson River from Lockhart, Crystal Lake is unaffected by the flood and offers its customers a convenient and safe place to paddle.
However, he wants them to have a chance to enjoy and appreciate the river.
“It presented a very calm aesthetic,” Lockhart said. “It had such beautiful sandbars. It’s a beautiful resource.”
And it can be more beautiful.
Jackson Boiling Water notes: He notes that boiling water irritates Jackson’s restaurant owners and drives up costs. This is the reason.
Pearl River health hazards have hampered cleanup efforts
The Pearl River Conservancy is a non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health of the Pearl River. Pearl River hosts an event called the Clean Sweep. Since 2017, volunteers have removed 140,000 pounds of trash from watersheds in Mississippi and Louisiana.
However, health concerns caused by Jackson’s sewage prevent volunteers from collecting trash at the Water Touch Advisory site.
“This is the fourth year MDEQ has had a water connection advisory for that 20-mile section and its tributaries,” said Abby Braman, who directs Pearl Riverkeeper. “The MDEQ believes the water is too contaminated for human consumption and fishing.
“MDEQ found no aquatic life in 11 creeks in Jackson. We can’t even go for a clean sweep of the Pearl River, it’s so polluted.”
When will Pearl River pollution stop?
So when does it end? When will Lockhart be able to share the beauty of the river with customers? When can Pearl Riverkeeper volunteers improve the health of the river in that area? When will aquatic life return to affected tributaries and the odor will disappear?
The answers to those questions and more seem unknown, but in a written statement to the Clarion-Leader from Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, he said the city is striving for reform and its residents deserve better.
“We continue to face major institutional challenges to our water and sewerage systems and desperately need the resources to address these challenges,” Lumumba wrote. “We believe recent federal support will help address some of these issues, and we are committed to a number of projects designed to address those issues.
“We continue to meet weekly with the EPA to comply with the 2012 consent decree against the city. They are intimately aware of the city’s limitations in addressing these issues and are working with us to make lasting improvements. Improvements.”
We are not in a position where we want or choose to be with the system we inherited, but we understand the frustration of residents who simply deserve a better system.
Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com. Follow Clarion Ledger Outdoors on Facebook and @BrianBroom Twitter.
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