JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Officials with JXN Water said there were significant pipe breaks during the day on Wednesday, January 17. They said the pipes broke due to the thawing, frozen ground causing the ground to expand and putting pressure on buried pipes.

The extended deep freeze and record low temperatures were a challenge, according to Ted Henifin, JXN Water Interim Third Party Manager.

“By late yesterday afternoon the water demand had risen to 70 million gallons per day, 40 percent more than a typical day. The high demand appears to have been a combination of pipe breaks in the Jackson Water system and leaks from private plumbing systems throughout the service area,” said Henifin.

JXN Water officials said they began seeing isolated pressure issues Wednesday night. They said the issues became more widespread overnight due to a “deliberate misinformation campaign” on social media that claimed JXN Water was going to shut the water plants off at some point.

Officials said people acted that social media post by filling their tubs with water. This caused demand to spike up beyond a level JXN Water could support given the significant demand during the day on Wednesday.

According to JXN Water, the water treatment plants operated continuously through the night, but the plants have not been able to recover the water lost on Wednesday. As a result, many customers are waking up to low pressure or no water.

“JXN Water is working hard to restore service to everyone, but it may take up to a day or two to get the system back to pre-storm conditions. We need everyone to help by minimizing water use for the next 24 hours (for those that have water and those that get it back in the coming hours) until we can get water to everyone,” said Henifin.

Since the call center is aware of this issue, officials said customers should also take caution to not overwhelm customer service with frequent calling about no water or low pressure. Leak reports are still being taken.