Hattiesburg, Mississippi – On Friday, June 4, Mayor Toby Barker was joined by Water and Sewer Director Alan Howe, water operators and water division staff at Water Plant #2 on James Street to announce Hattiesburg’s perfect score – a 5 out of 5 – for the annual inspection of its drinking water supply from the Mississippi Department of Health.

“One of the primary roles of our municipal government is to continue improving and maintaining the city’s infrastructure, and quality drinking water is the most important and necessary part of that infrastructure,” said Barker. “We are proud to announce another perfect score for Hattiesburg’s drinking water system, and I am grateful to all of the water department employees and our director, Alan Howe, for their hard work and commitment to our citizens.”

The report, conducted by the Mississippi State Department of Health, looks at operations across three categories: technical, managerial and financial. This is the third perfect score the City has received since 2019, and the fourth perfect technical score since 2018.

• May 2021 – 5/5
• June 2020 – no report due to COVID-19, all agencies kept the same score from the year prior.
• June 2019 – 5/5
• June 2018 – 4/5, points were docked due to lack of audits
• June 2017 – 4/5, points were docked due to high iron levels

“There are fifteen subsets within the three categories, and we received a perfect score across all of them,” said Howe. “We have an incredible managerial and operator team who works around the clock across daily samples, readings and paperwork to make sure the City of Hattiesburg’s water supply is of the highest quality that our citizens deserve.”

MSDH makes its visit to the water plant for its annual inspection each year in May, with the exception of last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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