JACKSON, Miss.—Ted Henifin is thinking about 2075. He might not be alive to see it, but the date lives somewhere in the back of his mind. The water system of the City of Jackson, over which he currently has authority, won’t belong to the federal government forever. Whatever comes next, after his uniquely durable authority disappears, will have to do what the Jackson water system that preceded it could not: build a utility that can survive for decades.
But few utilities in the nation have seen more entrenched warfare over just who will control them.
For the third time in four years, a bill to regionalize the Jackson water and sewer system and indefinitely transfer control of the utility to an appointed board is drawing criticism from numerous corners. And yet its survival in the Mississippi House indicates it may have the best chance yet of becoming the blueprint for Jackson’s water and sewer authority—however dim a chance that may be…