Fifth Circuit Revives a Lawsuit Against the City of Jackson Over Alleged Lead Contamination in Its Water System More Than a Decade Ago (2013 through 2015)

December 1, 2025 – Last week, Jackson residents learned of a decision by a federal court of appeals reinstating litigation brought by residents against the City for its handling of  high lead levels in drinking water from 2013 through 2015.  The Court compared the City’s failures to the Flint, MI crisis and sternly criticized the mayors and others in City leadership at that time, for not being transparent with the public, not providing timely warning about the health risks, and not fixing the problems expeditiously. The Court remanded the case back to the federal District Court in Jackson for trial.

JXN Water wants to reassure residents that lead and copper issues are a thing of the past.  We have met all federal and state lead and copper rule requirements in the distribution system and in your homes since 2023 when we assumed responsibility for water treatment and compliance. Since January 2025, we have also met all water quality parameters (WQPs) for water leaving the City’s treatment plants to ensure the water is not aggressive (won’t cause leaching of lead and copper in your residential lines as evaluated by the US EPA and MSDH).  The City’s system had not met the WQPs since they were established for the water system in response to the elevated lead sampling results in 2016. As of October 2025, we are in complete compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule.

Water produced and distributed by the JXN Water team meets all federal and state requirements.  We will tell you promptly if that is ever not the case. 

The Court of Appeals’ conclusions are damning but the case remains to be tried. Over time we will learn more about how the water system was managed during that public health challenge and whether the City will be held liable for damages. Regardless of the final outcome of that trial, it is clear that prior City management was unable to safely provide basic water services to Jacksonians leading to the complete failure of the water system in 2022.

We cannot go back to having unsafe water and system management that is indifferent to public health and the need to make hard decisions to maintain and ensure the water and sewer systems remain in full compliance with federal and State requirements.