It’s been about a month since February’s winter storm wreaked havoc on Jackson’s water system, breaking dozens of water mains and other equipment and leaving thousands of residents under boil-water advisories – or without running water at all.
But as they have so many times in the past, a group of Hattiesburg natives – including, in this case, former Mayor Johnny DuPree and NFL legend Harold Jackson – recently teamed together to deliver more than 10,000 bottles of water to Jackson State University, where hundreds of students have been without access to water.
“Harold Jackson is the former coach at Jackson State, and he also played at Jackson State,” DuPree said. “We got together with some other people from Hattiesburg that live in Jackson, and we thought it’d be a good idea for us to do what we can to help out Jackson.
“People always help us out when we have a crisis here, so we thought we’d do the same thing.”
After conferring with Jackson, DuPree contacted Russ Hendley, who serves as division vice present at Hattiesburg Coca-Cola United. Hendley then put DuPree in touch with Morgan Clark Schnur, vice president of Clark Beverage Distributors Group of Jackson.
The group then worked with Gloria Tatum, Bishop Ronnie Crudup and Bill Washington of New Horizon Church of Jackson to put together the water donation.
“The actual water came from Clark Beverage and New Horizon Church,” DuPree said. “Ten thousand bottles sounds like a lot of water when you’re delivering it to the university, but when you have thousands of kids with no potable water, 10,000 doesn’t go a long way. But it’s certainly better than none at all.
“We talked to the athletic director and one of the coaches there, and they were just elated that we put together such a large donation.”
As of March 12, more than 70 percent of Jackson’s water customers were still under boil-water notices because of the damage to the water system, parts of which are more than 100 years old. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba has said that bringing the system up to date could cost approximately $2 billion.
Lumumba recently asked Gov. Tate Reeves – who last month called in the National Guard to help distribute water in Jackson – for $47 million to help repair the system.
“They’re still in the middle of the crisis,” DuPree said. “Can you imagine having students having to have portable showers, or having water trucks come in to flush the commode, and not having potable water?
“They can’t just go turn the faucet on and get a drink. I don’t know which one is worse – no power or no water. But certainly, you cannot exist without water.”
Anyone who is interested in helping donate water to Jackson is encouraged to call DuPree at (601) 520-8500.
“They would certainly be elated to have water donated,” DuPree said. “If (anyone) wants to contact me, we can put them in touch with people in Jackson.”
