In August 2022, the largest water treatment plant in Jackson, Mississippi failed, leaving the state’s capital and largest city without clean drinking water for weeks.
The events that August thrust Jackson into the national spotlight, revealing a water crisis that had been bubbling over for the past three decades. The drinking water system had well-documented service and reliability challenges with its treatment plants and distribution system. That, coupled with changing population dynamics and historically low water rates, led to the crisis.
Public distrust of the city’s water infrastructure apexed, and the plant failure in 2022 marked a critical turning point. Fixing the infrastructure would not be enough. If the water system repairs were to be successful, public trust would also need to be repaired.
In November of that year, the U.S. Department of Justice appointed JXN Water, Inc. and interim third-party manager, Ted Henifin, to stabilize Jackson’s water system. JXN Water serves the entire population of 150,000 customers, with 52,000 service connections.
JXN Water launched a robust communications campaign with three goals:
To accomplish these goals, JXN Water set out to develop:
Improve JXN Water’s Reputation:
JXN Water aimed to demonstrate progress on system repairs and improvements that would provide safe, clean and reliable water. The team delivered these progress updates through videos, photos and infographics that were easily digestible.
JXN Water also developed a robust website with easy-to-understand resources. The site features a newsroom with press releases and YouTube videos. The newsroom emphasizes both paid and owned media channels, with articles on repairs and water topics. The website also includes a financial dashboard on the homepage as a way to share information about spending and priority projects. Additionally, the website has an Important Documents section where visitors can find detailed Water Quality Reports and Sewer Reports, increasing transparency and trust. Regular updates to the website are made.
JXN Water also launched social media campaigns across multiple platforms including NextDoor, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and Instagram. These campaigns included posts on appropriate materials to flush, the find-and-fix leak initiative, Quarterly Public Meeting event announcements and accessing bill payments. The team updated boil water advisories through NextDoor and the JXN Water website. Monthly social media calendars helped align the posts, and weekly analytic reports were compiled to evaluate effectiveness.
Amplify the Function of JXN Water Operations:
JXN Water articulated the value of water and the importance of investing in the system, incorporating messaging focused on bill payment. JXN Water increased visibility in the community by attending events and special programs. Additionally, JXN Water hosted Quarterly Public Meetings, inviting the public and the press to hear updates on priority projects, budgets and expenses. These meetings also served as an opportunity for community members to ask questions related to water system improvements.
These events enhanced transparency and increased visibility, and meeting highlights were shared on the website and social media.
Launch a Public Education Program:
JXN Water established a Water Academy that launched in Summer 2024 as a way to educate interested residents.
The program is offered each quarter, and participants can complete it within three months.
Partcipants receive a toolkit, attend educational sessions, and make a visit to the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant for a behind-the scenes tour, following program completion. Instructors present five session topics, including operating water infrastructure, water quality, operations and distribution at O.B. Curtis and J.H. Fewell Water Treatment Plants, sewer system maintenance, and finally, billing and customer service. Specific training was offered to landlords, businesses and restaurant owners as well.
JXN Water also increased awareness of its Small and Minority Business Initiative (and Doing Business with JXN Water) and grew overall contractor capacity. JXN Water focused on partnering with local contractors in the community through the Doing Business with JXN Water program and created outreach materials and a webpage to provide contractors business and bid information.
Finally, JXN Water published educational videos twice a month. JXN Water created videos covering what JXN Water does, how the water cycle and system work, water treatment plant operations, and JXN Water account and bill-pay tutorials.
While JXN Water’s work is not done, the communication campaign has been extremely successful in achieving the goals outlined.
According to surveys conducted by the University of Oklahoma between 2023 and 2024, trust in the utility increased by 27% in one year alone. Competence of the utility increased by 22%, and progress toward solutions increased by 23%. These significant annual increases reflect that JXN Water succeeded in reaching its goal of increasing public trust and amplifying JXN Water’s operations. JXN Water also successfully met its goal of launching a public education program.
In a community that has experienced great hardship and erosion of trust, JXN Water managed to build a strong foundation for public communications. This focus on community and increased public trust will continue throughout the duration of the project.
