JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The entire City of Jackson and the City of Flowood have been placed under state imposed boil water notices.

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), water sampling showed the presence of E. coli bacteria in both water supplies. Both notices were issued on Thursday, January 11.

The notice for Jackson affects 188,723 customers, and the notice for Flowood affects 27,997 customers.

JXN Water officials believe MSDH may have cross contaminated the Jackson and Flowood water samples. Interim Third Party Administrator Ted Henifin said his team asked the state to validate the samples.

Henifin said JXN Water has not had any positive samples in more than a year, and this would set back their progress.

“When you issue a boil water notice that may not be fully vetted, you know, we haven’t done the validation. You’ve just created distrust to tap water; 160,000 people, and they’re just going to say, ‘Well, I’m just not going to worry about it. I’m not going to drink the water.’ So, this was hugely damaging to us, hugely damaging to, you know, our industry in general,” he stated.

However, MSDH officials said the MSDH Public Health Laboratory (MPHL) followed all procedures and protocols in the testing process as outlined by the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

They do not believe there was any contamination of the samples while in the lab and the results are not false positives. MPHL leadership staff has done a preliminary review of the lab protocols related to these results, and they are confident in their validity.

The MPHL is expediting the tests of new samples from both cities and once two consecutive days of clear testing is obtained, the boil water alerts will be lifted. 

Health officials strongly recommend that all water be boiled vigorously for one minute before it is consumed. This precaution will last at least two full days for the cities, and water system officials will be immediately notified when the boil water alert is lifted.

Fecal coliforms and E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause short-term effects such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children and people with severely compromised immune systems.