Judge orders 5-day ‘humanitarian’ water restoration at Jackson’s Blossom Apartments

A federal judge on Friday ordered water to be turned back on for five days at a south Jackson apartment complex where the utility company shut it off July 23 because the complex owner has $422,000 of unpaid water bills.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued his order in response to an emergency request from Mayor John Horhn. Wingate said it was a “temporary humanitarian measure.”

“Judge Wingate’s decision to turn the water back on gives us the critical time we need to help our neighbors get to a safe place,” Horhn said in a statement.

In the days before taps ran dry at Blossom, the city’s privately operated water utility company, JXN Water, had indicated water shutoffs were possible but not imminent at Blossom and other complexes with large overdue bills.

Many of Blossom’s low-incom