Business is hurting amid Jackson’s ongoing water woes.

JACKSON, MRS.-JOHN THIER Jackson may be days away from a citywide boil water notice. He can also count the money. Every day his restaurant, Johnny T’s Bistro and Blues on Farish Street, pours in a little more profit because of the never-ending water crisis.

The tests begin before the restaurant opens. “First, you have to start a few hours earlier. Whatever you pay by the hour is labor itself. You have to go in and start boiling water for everything you use in the service.” In an interview at the end of August, Thier spoke to the Mississippi Free Press for several weeks on the boil water ad.

“There’s $200 or $300 a day in buying ice, bottled sodas, bottled water, things like that,” he continued.

It’s the little things that add up—small considerations that shave less flexibility into a business model. “Restaurant margins can be 10 cents on the dollar. And then imagine restaurants that don’t sell alcohol,” Thier said.

It’s unclear when Jackson will be removed from the new boil water notice, with the Mississippi State Department of Health enforcing compliance. When the capital’s water system is fully completed again, it will liberate the city from the drumbeat. Recurrence of the 2021 crisisit’s hard to even imagine.

‘Perpetual Emergency’

In early August, after another city-wide boil water notice was issued, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba invited the media to visit for a short time OB Curtis Water Treatment Plant. The plants are still as In early 2021, Jackson is undergoing winter renovations intended to prevent damage from more than a month without water.

The 2022 rolling crisis may be less acute than last year’s, but no less protracted. “I continue to share with you that our water supply system is in a perpetual state of emergency,” Lumumba said. A large white dome now covers the OB Curtis membrane rail facility, large enough to protect against the deep snow that once destroyed the system.

But plant management respects the current danger of soda-ash treatment in two nearby giant towers. Soda ash and lime sludge are two ways to treat water, balancing the acidity to ensure the finished product is safe to drink. OB Curtis reverted to the lime-drain system so that the soda-ash system could be used in Mississippi’s oppressive humidity.

That’s the reason for the continued boil water advisories, the mayor said. At a press conference earlier this week, the mayor admitted that it will take up to a year to fully implement the weatherproof soda ash system.

“We were led to go for soda ash because lime sludge is known to often have high turbidity readings,” Lumumba said. However, contrary to the statements of the Mississippi State Department of Health, Lumumba repeated. Turbulence from lime sludge does not represent a risk to human health.

“If we’re all in the room together talking about solutions, and one of the reasons it’s known, that’s why we’ve had opposition to the boil water ad… high levels of limescale,” the mayor said. “What I can tell you is that we will continue to work with MSDHA on solutions because we understand who is affected by the boil water notice that we need to issue.”

Outside of the OB Curtis Water Treatment Plant, this reporter asked Lumumba directly about his administration’s concern about the safety of water in Jackson’s taps, even during a boil water advisory. “Yes,” said Lumumba. “oh no. We believe it is.”

Lumumba continued: “We have discussed with MSDH staff on the ground and senior officials. “In discussions between senior officials, they don’t necessarily take the position that they think there is a public health risk, but they recognize that they are a regulatory agency, and there are limitations to what they can do. ” Officially, MSDH declined several interview requests about the state of Jackson’s water system. MSDH Communications Director Liz Charlotte issued a statement to WLBT shortly after the mayor’s comments, denying that the water was safe.

“This agency does not issue boil water notices if the water is safe to drink,” Charlotte wrote. Our goal is always to protect the public health of our citizens.

“You must follow the instructions.”

Residents, faced with weeks of constant boil water warnings, will be forced to decide for themselves whether the potential risks are worth the expense and frustration of using bottled water. But for everyone else – restaurants and hotels, clinics and schools, the boil water warning is not a serious question. It is a legal authority.

“You have to go by what the health department says,” Thier said. “You have to follow the health department’s strict guidelines. If they say they boiled water, you boiled it. The result is expensive and tedious.

Among the extra energy and supplies, Thier explains, can be estimated from a daily hit from a hard-to-swallow ad.

“If I had to guess… just all of it, between $300 and $600 a day, just because of the boiling water. Within a week, maybe $3,500. And these are just the obvious upfront costs. But on your staff, it’s also the extra energy of the bag of soda and water, the work of staying within the guidelines,” he said.

It is important to prevent exposure to improperly treated water. This means preparing employees for extra effort. “Let’s just say we’re very busy on the weekend. The kitchen is getting crowded, there is no place to cook. We don’t have a 30 gallon boiling pot. Now we move on to the routes (supplies), cutters and containers. Everything adds up,” he said.

The restaurant went on to say: “They are holding a comprehensive training session on how to operate during a boil water advisory. “That in itself is expensive. These added costs when there’s a labor shortage – you’ve got inflation, you’ve got supply chain problems every week.

“There are different items that are not available, and you just have to move with it. You’ll need to make more purchases than you have on hand just to make sure you have enough supply, Thier added.

The added weight of the water crisis for restaurants is an unnecessary burden in an industry where workers are reassessing their priorities. “All these things combined are very difficult,” concludes Thier.

MSDH approved the test site change

At a press event this week, Lumumba described keeping Jackson under the boil water notice as a few missteps of violence.

“What is going on is not the same experiment that led to the riots in the factory,” Lumumba said. “What’s going on is field tests at people’s homes. If all tests are clear, you should have two consecutive days.

“The pattern we’ve seen is that on the first day[of 120 tests]everything is clear,” he continued. “On the second day, trying the same sites, everything is clear except for two, and then we have to start again. I’m not going to be anything bad on behalf of anyone (suggesting), what I’m saying is that it leads to a curious situation. How these places are clear one day and the next. How come we’re not seeing more negative samples in the city?

Earlier, Lumumba highlighted the worst case scenario at the OB Curtis Water Treatment Plant. He said that testing closer to where the lime sludge is located is producing fluctuating readings that can be cleared further from the line. Now, according to Lumumba, MSDH has approved a new location for testing.

“We were able to change the testing area in the factory,” he explained. “They called me from the top management and told me that they approved that position. We believe this will go a long way in preventing us from frequently having chaotic readings.

“Tough Times to Sell”

Understanding the city’s disintegration, John Tier has patience for the great task ahead for the city of Jackson. The water system has been running for decades. Its maintenance also takes a long time. But not every business survives the long wait, and often Jackson’s loss is the surrounding community’s gain.

“We confirmed when we contacted the restaurants a week ago. When we had the boil water notice in Jackson, they said they were going to have an increase in the surrounding counties and in their other stores,” Thier said.

“A big part of our customers is tourism,” he continued. “And when you have things like boiling water, it’s hard to push tourism. Trying to sell the city of Jackson for a convention or festival is tough. These are tough times to sell.”