Water Sector News
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Feds tap new boss to fix Jackson, Miss., sewage after years of spills
The federal government on Wednesday announced a deal that would bring an outside expert into Jackson, Miss., to fix the city’s sewer system, which has repeatedly failed in recent years by dumping waste into homes, streets and the Pearl River.
The proposed agreement between city, state and federal officials would charge Ted Henifin, an experienced civil engineer who was tapped last year to manage Jackson’s derelict water system, with overseeing the city’s sewage on an interim basis.
The proposal tasks Henifin with rehabilitating the city’s sewers by following a list of priority projects. It also allows city, state and federal officials to renegotiate the terms of a 2013 settlement that intended to bring Jackson’s systems into compliance with environmental laws. Jackson has “failed to achieve significant progress” on the settlement, the order said, citing funding problems among other issues.