Mississippi's Capital Under Boil Water Order After E. Coli Bacteria Found In Supply

JACKSON, MISS. (AP) — Mississippi health officials told residents in the state’s capital to boil their tap water Thursday after traces of E. coli bacteria were found in the city’s supply — a result the manager of Jackson’s long-troubled water system disputed while calling it a devastating setback for rebuilding public trust.

The boil water notice, which officials also imposed in the Jackson suburb of Flowood, was issued just days before the expected arrival of a blast of cold weather that could further disrupt the local water infrastructure. The bacteria’s presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal waste, the state health department said.

Residents of the two Mississippi cities were advised to boil their water for one minute before using it. The precaution will last at least two full days as officials collect new samples for testing.

Ted Henifin, Jackson’s interim water manager, said at a news conference that state officials refused to validate the lab results before issuing the boil water notice, and suggested there may have been false positive tests. He also said it was unlikely that samples from Jackson and Flowood would be contaminated at the same time since the cities’ water systems are not connected.

“This is tragic,” Henifin said. “This is setting us back maybe a year. It’s taken everything we can do to get a few more people in this city to drink tap water and have trust in it.”

Officials at the state health department’s lab don’t believe there was any contamination of the samples, and the results are not false positives, the health department said in a news release after Henifin’s news conference.

A federal judge appointed Henifin in November 2022 to oversee reforms to Jackson’s