When Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced in mid-September that the state was lifting its weeks-long boil order for Jackson, it sounded like a declaration of victory: "We have restored clean water to the city of Jackson." The ensuing headlines sent the same message of relief after weeks of the intense crisis that left tens of thousands of residents of the state capital with no access to water.
But Governor Reeves' words gave false assurances about the situation on the ground – and could signal a worrying desire to push a private takeover out of the national spotlight.
