Telecommunications, electricity, drinking water, waste treatment: utilities are generally viewed as one of the more mundane aspects of modern infrastructure. Even so, they are basic rights that can stunt society when missing. Governments play a large role in these industries, including facility construction, production, and allocation as well as the regulation of private companies and the potential outsourcing of provider responsibilities. Utilities are not the flashiest aspect of bureaucratic work, and politicians typically don’t win or lose elections based on the state of their constituency’s waste treatment. In fact, utilities can be taken for granted, and the mere idea of the lights not turning on or the tap not running seems dystopian. Yet when natural disasters or mismanagement strain infrastructure, or when global prices and production fluctuate, that distant idea can become a reality — and people greatly suffer as a result.
Currently, two major utility crises are on full display in two very different cities: Cape Town, South Africa and Jackson, Mississippi are struggling to provide electricity to their citizens. With Eskom’s Load Shedding policies in Cape Town, and Jackson’s neglected water sector, and both cities’ secession withdrawal from their existing utility systems foreshadow an unnerving future.
The South African energy sector has never been well heralded for its efficiency. The nation’s electricity is more than 90% reliant on corporation Eskom, primarily owned by the government of South Africa. In fact, Eskom is so large that it not only generates almost all of its country’s electricity, but 30% of the continent’s. With a consumer-base this large, it’s not surprising that Eskom has spread its workforce thin, leading to complications in handling infrastructure renovations and electricity generation/allocation. As a result, the South African company was so overwhelmed in 2007 that it formulated an entirely new policy for the nation’s energy: “load shedding.” This policy can be explained as a purposeful power outage as a result of the company not having enough electricity to go around.
Scattered “load shedding” has been a reality for South Africans for years now, but it’s become increasingly worse: blackouts have already amassed over 150 days in 2022 which has amounted to more than ⅓ of the entire year that citizens have been without electricity. Currently, Eskom is undergoing Stage 5 of load shedding, which means power will be cut from South Africans for 8 hours intervals every day. One of the major issues analysts have pointed out is that the corporation is highly reliant on aging coal-fired power plants that are prone to breaking down periodically. This, paired with the rising prices and falling availability of oil, has caused a violent storm for both Eskom and the nation of South Africa. Many banks, restaurants, hotels, and convenience stores that are vital to the livelihoods of South African citizens have been either shut down or conditionally operational, and the crucial agricultural sector of the nation is also in peril. AgriSA, the country’s predominant farming organization, has issued a statement stating that “pumping stations, irrigation, cooling, and other systems all depend on power supply. While some farmers have the means to move away from the power grid, most are unable to do so. This is especially true for the most vulnerable small-scale farmers.” Eskom’s issues will continue to plague the average quality of life for years after the blackouts end.
Cape Town, which has experienced some of the worst of the blackouts, has taken the initiative to step away from Eskom. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis claims that having one centralized electric utility company in South Africa threatens its people when it cannot deliver, so they are pursuing other options. Hill-Lewis, in a statement earlier this year, announced that “The City of Cape Town will now pay cash to small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) customers for the excess energy they produce and sell back to the City.” While in the past, businesses who produced energy were required by law to still be net consumers of the City’s energy (receiving from Eskom), now they will be paid to be net producers, selling the energy they don’t use to Cape Town as a way to alleviate blackouts. Now, the city is working with its corporate allies in order to get the lights back on.
Cityside water issues aren’t unheard of in the United States. Horror stories could be made from Flint, Michigan’s utility struggles. The present situation in Jackson, Mississippi highlights a continuous and systematic issue concerning American utility allocation. National attention is centered on a current EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) civil rights investigation into the State of Mississippi. Jackson’s water infrastructure has been shoddy for years — line breaks and bacteria exposure in the city have violated safe drinking standards since 2018 and Jackson has been under federal order since 2020 to fix these problems. The severity of the issue came to light in late August when its main water treatment plant failed and 180,000 people immediately had no access to running water. In response, Governor Tate Reeves called for citizens to switch to bottled water, but was slower to address the problem itself, or questions concerning why even though Jackson had been under “boil your water” notice for months before the shutdown, the state did little to nothing to improve or alleviate the situation. Most pipes in the city have been there since the 1950’s, which means they haven’t been upgraded or kept up in over half a century.
The EPA is currently looking into potential racial discrimination of the state government of Mississipi on the city of Jackson. The city is 82% black and is disproportionately black compared to the rest of the state. The national government had set aside millions of dollars in funding to go towards investing in Jackson’s utility infrastructure, but that money went through the state first. Utility funds find the desk of Governor Reeves before Jackson — and as a result of his decision-making, they haven’t made it to the city. Millions of dollars, and none of it is reaching its intended destination. So when Reeves stated in a groundbreaking ceremony at Jones Capital LLC Headquarters that it was “always a great day to not be in Jackson,” many found this statement hypocritical, disparaging, and downright racist.
The current state of Jackson is one of recovery. A few weeks ago, officials approved $35.6 million in federal money for seven water/sewer infrastructure projects. Reeves still denies any blame at the state level for the conditions of Jackson and has made it clear that he believes the issues rest solely on the actions of local officials. As the investigation persists, the Jackson suburb of Byram has taken matters into their own hands — similar to the actions of Cape Town. They are so distraught and frustrated with the current state of their city’s utilities, they created their own water system. This highlights a larger insight gleaned from the water crisis outside just Jackson’s woes: a rising distrust in the government to provide for the general public and for money to end up where it needs to be.
The utility dilemmas facing Cape Town, South Africa and Jackson, Mississippi are two sides of the same coin. Eskom’s severe load shedding is a byproduct of too much centralization in a government-owned company meant to provide basic needs and services to an entire citizenry. Jackson’s water crisis resulted from a decentralized system of infrastructure funding and money having to move through the hands of multiple officials before reaching its intended destination. In both instances, it’s the higher levels of government that act as the provider for the people with the city as the client. Having too many intricacies and obstacles along that path, or too little, jeopardizes a utility’s efficiency and long-term effectiveness. This explains both cases resulting in the city removing themselves from the existing system and replacing it with a “do it yourself” approach.
Perhaps there is a middle ground in utility distribution, one that allows for competition and variety while also streamlining support for those systems. Adopting some balance is going to prove more crucial as environmental conditions worsen and utilities become simultaneously harder to provide. Investigations like the one in Jackson are a key contributor in fighting back against future mishandling and discrimination, but they need to take place before the problems arise. It’s time to be proactive about our utility systems, mundane as they may seem. Running water and power are at the core of daily life — they should be treated as such.
