Professor Jae-Young Ko has published a research article on the 2021 water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi

The 2021 Water Crisis in Jackson, Mississippi was a triggering event showing worsened municipal services from the city’s aging water infrastructure. About 43,000 residents in Jackson, Mississippi, lost access to water for three weeks in February-March 2021 due to freezing weather and poorly maintained water mains. This study takes a chronological research design approach through a literature review to define trends and changes in residential population, sales, and property tax revenues in the City of Jackson over the years. This study also examines the two major water infrastructure plans proposed by Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. in 2012 and Mayor Tony T. Yarber in 2016 and seeks to explain why those plans failed. Finally, this study recommends policy options, including increasing efforts to collect water bills and creating a new agency for enhanced inter-local government collaboration.