Organizations in Jackson, Mississippi, are asking for help from other states as the water crisis dries up resources.

It’s been over five months since the Pearl River crested and Jackson, Mississippi’s water system failed. Now, crews are working to replace the pipe system, but families and businesses are prepared to go without water periodically, for up to 10 years.

Cities across the country are replacing fragile water pipe systems. Besides Jackson, there's Flint, Michigan, Baltimore, Maryland, and Houston, Texas. 

The systems are replaced section-by-section after failure. But, these years-long projects can cause water main breaks.

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Kenneth Wayne Jones serves as Hinds County Administrator, which includes Jackson. He said their water crisis was decades in the making and the situation will get worse before things become better.

"Every move you make to try to alleviate this problem causes pressure to go in another direction. And, when it gets to one direction, there are old pipes, or, the water main breaks. And, when the water mains start to break, it shifts pressure everywhere. It’s especially hard on our businesses," Jones said. 

Jones said Jackson's longstanding water issue has caused years of economic decline.

Jackson has seen more than 10% of its residents leave in the past decade. 

Our research shows over 6,000 out of nearly 9,000 businesses have left the city in that same time period. 

Fredick Womack runs Operation Good. He said as national attention has shifted to other cities or issues, local organizations are feeling the strain and aren’t sure if their resources can sustain five to ten more years of water outages. 

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"People rely very heavily on organizations like ours, Operation Good, to provide them with water and basic necessities, because when the water goes out, people can not even take showers, baths, utilize toilets" Womack said. 

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People in Jackson are asking for more help from other states.

"Send drinking water. Continue to send drinking water. You can send it to the city or county. There are so many areas where we need those resources for these people. It’s an ongoing process," Jones said.

It’s likely more cities may need help also, because the American Society of Civil Engineers grades the United States a "C-" overall in drinking water systems, saying many are due for repair or replacement. This could mean seeing a greater strain on resources nationwide. 

Former President Donald Trump joined the chorus of those responding to graphic footage from the bodycams of five Memphis police officers who repeatedly beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. The footage was released to the public Friday, Jan. 27.

"I thought it was terrible. He was in such trouble. He was just being pummeled. Now that should never have happened," Trump said during an interview with The Associated Press Saturday.

The footage shows the officers punching, kicking, pepper spraying and tasing Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father and delivery driver, following a traffic stop on Jan. 7. 

He died three days later, on Jan. 10. The officers were charged with his murder.

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Trump, who is running for the White House in 2024, said hearing Nichols repeatedly call out to his mother during the assault was particularly difficult. He said it was "a very sad moment."

"That was really the point that got me the most, to be honest with you," the former president said.

Trump said Memphis police were taking a "strong step" in disbanding the SCORPION police unit involved in the attack, which was created to target violent offenders in areas beset by high crime. SCORPION stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.

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It has been "permanently" deactivated as a result of the Jan. 7 incident, Memphis officials announced.

Trump also called the video "pretty conclusive," as the officers face murder charges.

He also suggested the traffic violation was not the officers’ motivation for the beating.

"Look, the tape was perhaps not totally conclusive but, to me, it was pretty conclusive and it was vicious and violent and hard to believe — over a traffic violation," Trump said.

Warning: The contents of the below video are graphic in nature.

Trump previously discouraged violent protests that erupted across the country in the summer of 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which he also condemned.

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts," Trump tweeted, sparking backlash. The tweet was also flagged by Twitter as glorifying violence.

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The former president defended his comments as attempting to discourage escalation, not a call to shoot those who are looting.

He later centered his 2020 reelection bid around "law and order" and supporting law enforcement.

Trump, while in office, signed an executive order encouraging better police practices.

Former President Barack Obama also responded to the Tyre Nichols bodycam footage.

In a joint tweet, Barack and Michelle Obama said that Nichols’ death is a "painful reminder" for America.

"The vicious, unjustified beating of Tyre Nichols and his ultimate death at the hands of five Memphis police officers is just the latest, painful reminder of how far America still has to go in fixing how we police our streets," the couple said.

President Joe Biden also addressed the video.

"My heart goes out to Tyre Nichols’ family and to Americans in Memphis and across the country who are grieving this tremendously painful loss. There are no words to describe the heartbreak and grief of losing a beloved child and young father," he wrote in a statement Friday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.