JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – JXN Water held their first State of the Water System address on Wednesday to provide updates on improvements.

While there have been significant improvements, interim Third-Party Manager Ted Henifin believes that relying on federal funding can only take you so far.

“We have to be self-sufficient. You know, we’ve spent $250 million of federal grant dollars to get to where we are today. Believe it or not, the federal government is going to be continuing to write checks to keep Jackson’s water going. And we’re one of dozens of cities that would like to see that kind of investment. And so, I don’t believe we can rely on federal funds, and really can’t rely on the state funds, to make that happen here. Water is a local issue,” he said.

While billing and payments are a major part of improving JXN Water, Henifin said the past failures of the system led to the disruption of collections.

He said JXN Water is working to overhaul the city’s water system by 2029.