Miss. city issues water advisory to kids, pregnant women

JACKSON, Miss. — City officials cautioned children and pregnant women Wednesday against potential lead exposure in the city's drinking water.

The water has not been deemed unsafe, according to a City of Jackson press release. However, out of an abundance of caution, pregnant women and small children should follow the Mississippi State Department of Health's recommendations for prevention of lead exposure from drinking water.

Among the suggestions:

• Let the tap run for 1 to 2 minutes before using the water for drinking or cooking.
• Don't use hot water for drinking or cooking.
• Use a home water filter that meets NSF/ANSI 53 standards to remove lead from water before drinking or cooking. Various carbon filters can meet this standard.
• Use bottled water for making baby formula and juices.
• Don't let small children get water in their mouths during bath time.

"The Mississippi State Department of Health will closely monitor the City of Jackson’s progress to reduce the corrosiveness of water," city officials said. "Corrosive water leads to leaching of lead in some older homes where plumbing contains lead pipes or lead solder."

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The city maintains that the lead found in its water is a result of plumbing materials, not its water source, but its release states the city's need to increase corrosion-control measures.

Jackson residents learned in January that water in some homes in the area had tested positive for lead above what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers a level that needs action. Those results came from samples gathered and tested six months previously.

State health department officials confirmed that water tests from 22% of its 58-residence sample detected lead levels between 0.017 and 0.02 milligrams per liter of blood, above the federal action level of 0.015. The affected areas included 13 residences in southwest Jackson and north Jackson. Eleven of 100 samples taken in January also tested above the action level.

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“Although the majority of home lead testing performed identified no lead, or lead below the action level of 15 (parts per billion), we are issuing these recommendations as a special precaution for young children and pregnant women,” said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi's state epidemiologist.

People should take these precautions for at least six months as the city changes the way it purifies water, said Jim Craig, the director of health protection at the state health department.

"The City of Jackson’s source water and finished drinking water leaving the plant do not contain lead," city officials said. "Lead enters the water from the corrosion of materials containing lead.

"When water is in contact with service lines and plumbing containing lead for several hours, the lead may enter drinking water." Officials said homes built before 1988 are more likely to have lead pipes or lead solder joining pipes.

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