Due to the Jackson’s water issues, portable toilets are placed outside of Jackson State University’s Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, August 31, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
In the latest twist in Jackson State University’s quest to insulate itself from the city’s water woes, testimony before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate revealed that a years-in-the-works, nearly complete plan to install backup water tanks on campus could put students at risk of consuming nondrinking water.
But the historically Black university, which has not been involved in the city’s ongoing lawsuit until now, was not forced to court over the issue. Instead, the university was the one who filed a grievance. It sought Wingate out for help with what it described as an insurmountable roadblock: Ted Henifin, the federal water receiver, who was refusing to permit the project to move forward…