The Jackson Water Crisis of 2010

I've been seeing commentary on local area blogs that seeks to place blame for the massive outbreak of leaking water mains on Mayor Harvey Johnson.  That's just flat wrong. We've had 14 straight days of subfreezing temperatures in Jackson, folks.  THAT''S why the water mains are breaking all over town.  Jackson wasn't built to handle weather like this.  If people want to fix the blame, rather than the problem, then it lies with the past 30 years of Jackson leadership in both the mayor's office and on the city council.  But let's be honest with ourselves:  Replacing water lines at a cost of over $300M in order to avoid a week's worth of trouble every 20 years or so isn't exactly high on anyone's priority list.  And I'm not sure it should be.  That being said, if there's a cost-effective way to avoid this in the future, let's explore it.

By the way, Jackson city workers and workers from Greenville and other cities seem to be doing a great job repairing the breaks.  Here's a map showing the work they've done and the task still ahead of them.  It's worth a look to get an understanding of the size of the problem and the amount of work already completed.