Lead and Copper Rule Treatment Technique Violations: **Water Quality Parameters Not Meeting Minimum Values** & **Failure to Install Corrosion Control** Our water system violated a drinking water standard and a drinking water requirement. Although this is not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct this situation. We routinely sample water at consumers’ taps for lead and copper. In 2015, test results showed lead levels in the distribution system water above the action level (AL). Additionally, a routine inspection conducted in November 2016 by Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) found inadequate application of treatment chemicals due to a failing corrosion control system at the O. B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. As required by Environmental Protection Agency, we were required to take action to correct this deficiency. After testing and analyses of our treatment plants and distribution system, we began installation of optimized corrosion control treatment in October 2017. This treatment prevents lead and copper in pipes and plumbing components from dissolving into the drinking water. During the monitoring periods of 2018 to 2022, we failed to consistently meet treatment technique requirements for our system which is a violation of the Lead and Copper Rule and a requirement of the City’s Optimized Corrosion Control Plan. Corrosion control treatment (CCT) installation was completed at O. B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant but is incomplete at J. H. Fewell Water Treatment Plant due to a reassessment of the Optimized Corrosion Control Treatment (OCCT) plan. What should I do? Although the majority of home lead testing performed identified lead below the action level set by the EPA, MSDH is issuing these recommendations as a special precaution, especially for households with young children or pregnant women. These precautions should remain in place at least six months while the City continues its efforts to make required changes to stabilize the pH levels in its water system that can cause corrosion. Before using tap water for drinking or cooking, run your cold water tap for at least one (1) minute. For details, see http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm Households should never use the hot water tap for drinking or cooking. Residents should clean out their faucet aerators by unscrewing the aerator at the tip of the faucet and removing any particles or sediment that has collected in the filter screen. Baby formula should be “ready-to-feed” or prepared using only filtered water or bottled water. Parents with children five (5) years or younger should contact their child’s pediatrician or primary care provider to make sure that adequate lead screening and blood testing has been performed. What does this mean? This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours. Typically, lead enters water supplies by leaching from lead or brass pipes and plumbing components. New lead pipes and plumbing components containing lead are no longer allowed for this reason. However, many older homes may contain lead pipes. Your water is more likely to contain high lead levels if water pipes in or leading to your home are made of lead or contain lead solder. High levels of lead and copper in Mississippi are nearly always due to pipes and fittings in the plumbing. Infants and children who drink water containing lead in excess of the action level could experience delays in their physical or mental development. Children could show slight deficits in attention span and learning abilities. Adults who drink this water over many years could develop kidney problems or high blood pressure. What is being done? We have evaluated and made corrective actions to our existing corrosion control systems to stabilize the pH in the distribution system. The corrective actions are an ongoing process. We have increased monitoring of water quality parameters in the distribution system and at the treatment plants. An amendment to the corrosion control study was submitted and accepted by MSDH in 2021. MSDH has set interim goals for our water system while installation of the recommended corrosion control treatment is pursued. For the July-December 2022 monitoring period, the lead 90th percentile was 6 ppb, which is below the lead AL of 15 ppb. The results indicate that the interim measures to facilitate CCT are working to prevent an AL exceedance on a system wide level while we work to implement optimized CCT. OCCT will be installed and operational by August 2023. For more information, please contact the City of Jackson Water Laboratory at 601-960-2723. “Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.” This notice is being sent to you by the City of Jackson PWS ID#: MS0250008. Date distributed: January 19, 2023

Boil water notices are issued to all properties that are affected. We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply. If a boil water notice has been issued for your area, please use the following precautions. What should I do? What does this mean? DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water. Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. People at increased risk should seek advice from their health care providers about drinking this water. What is being done?  We are taking steps to ensure the required level of treatment is maintained. The cause of the treatment lapse has been identified and we are making repairs and improvements at the O. B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant to address the issue and decrease the possibility of a repeat occurrence. We will inform you when turbidity returns to appropriate levels and when you no longer need to boil your water. We anticipate resolving the problem within the next 4-7 days. For more information, please contact the City of Jackson Water Lab at 601-960-2723. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

LANSING — It was Dec. 1, and a half-inch of rain had fallen in Lansing, drops that muddied lawns and pooled on pavement, blurred windshields and soaked pedestrians. Some of the wayward water surged into the city's sewer drain, mixed with the contents of Lansing toilets and contributed to more than four million gallons of sludge spilling into Lansing rivers. The rain was heavy, but not unprecedented. Neither was the untreated sewage that burbled into area waterways.

The Flint, Michigan scandal revealed that many water plants in the U.S. contain alarmingly high levels of toxic metals, such as lead. Many municipal water systems add toxic fluoride to the water supply. Fluoride is a known neurotoxin that's been linked to lower IQ scores in children. Fluoride promotes corrosion of water pipes, releasing even more lead and other toxic elements into your tap water. More than 60% of Americans are exposed to lead and fluoride-contaminated water. You might be one of them. Tap water is filled with toxic chloride. The chemical is deliberately added to public water by water treatment personnel to kill bacteria, but it can also affect human health.

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FLINT, Mich. — By the sunken standards of life in Flint, Kenneth Glover is lucky. Last month, a construction crew arrived at his house, removed the aging, corroded lead waterline leading up to it and installed a new copper pipe in its place. His house became one of fewer than 200 in Flint to have received a new pipe through a city-run program, with thousands more on the waiting list. That matters not a whit to Mr. Glover. He still will not drink the water. “I don’t even give it to my dog,” said Mr. Glover, who works in a General Motors plant, as he stood outside his home last week. “I don’t care how many filters they give us. I don’t care what they say. How can I trust them again?” It has been one year since officials in Flint urged city residents not to drink the water. Since then — as an investigation continues into the failed response at the city, state and federal levels — the authorities have pointed to progress in repairing the city’s lead-tainted water system: Water from the Flint River is no longer used in favor of the city’s former source, the Detroit system, which gets water from Lake Huron. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/us/after-water-fiasco-trust-of-officials-is-in-short-supply-in-flint.html

Can taking a shower really be dangerous? It may come as a shock, but the very method most people use to keep their bodies clean could be exposing them to unforeseen health risks. Soaking up water in this way is especially dangerous because the chlorine goes directly into your bloodstream . This means you absorb 6 times more chlorine per glass while showering than if you were drinking the same water. The Dirty Truth About Your Shower Water Research presented at the American Chemical Society in 1986 demonstrated that showering leads to greater exposure to toxic chemicals in tap water than drinking the water does. The dangers and risks of chlorine exposure are serious — including, but not limited to… Irritation of the eyes, sinuses, throat, and skin Aggravation of the lungs Excessive free radical formation, which results in accelerated aging Hardened arteries Difficulty metabolizing cholesterol Higher vulnerability to genetic mutation Development of cancer In a recent article in The American Journal of Public Health, chlorine was linked to measurable increases in certain types of cancer. The article also reported that up to 2/3 of our harmful exposure to chlorine is through absorption by the skin during showering. Even if you can’t detect the presence of chlorine in your water via smell or taste, that doesn’t mean you’re safe from the consequence of exposure. Chlorine exposure can be especially harmful for individuals with pre-existing conditions such as sinus conditions, allergies, skin rashes, emphysema and asthma. Got Chloroform? The most current findings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that virtually every home in America has a detectable level in the air of chloroform gas — a derivative of chlorine and a known carcinogen — due to chlorine and showering. Anyone who showers regularly should be concerned about the dangers of chlorine exposure, but especially those who suffer from dry and irritated skin; damaged and brittle hair; flaky or itchy scalp; or redness and burning of the eyes. Dr. John Andelman, Ph.D., says the dangers of exposure to chlorine during showers via absorption through the skin as well as inhalation cannot be overstated. Andelman is especially concerned with the high concentrations of chlorine and synthetic chemicals that can enter the body this way. Experts used to believe that ingestion was the primary method of chlorine intake, but new studies show that inhalation and skin exposure intake are even higher. One of the most prevalent forms of chlorine taken in through inhalation is chloroform. Remember, chloroform is a carcinogen, and it’s also linked to excessive free radical formation, cell mutation, and the oxidation of cholesterol. As Dr. Mercola explains, when we inhale chloroform, it goes directly into our bloodstreams without any kind of preliminary detoxification. So unless you are regularly taking minute-long showers in cold water, “your body is like a sponge for these airborne toxins every second you spend in the shower,” says Mercola. How to Protect Yourself from the Hazards of Chlorine Obviously, avoiding showers altogether is not an option. There’s a far better (and simpler) solution — and that is … to get the chlorine out of your water. The best way to eliminate chlorine and its hazardous derivatives from your water supply is to install a whole house water purification system from www.elementfreeinc.com . These filters are widely available and easy to use. They attach directly to the faucet, and are capable of removing not only chlorine but also other chemicals such as water-soluble lead, mercury, nickel, chromium, iron, and other metals. These filters remove more contaminants than any other method, and also enhance the water’s pH balance. The best way to protect your body — inside and out — from the chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that you are exposed to when showering in water drawn from the municipal water supply is by using a filter. Please contact www.elementfreeinc.com for a whole house water purification system to help you and your family eliminate this exposure.

The United States uses 42 billion gallons of water a day to support daily life from cooking and bathing in homes to use in factories and offices across the country. Around 80% of drinking water in the U.S. comes from surface waters such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and oceans, with the remaining 20% from groundwater aquifers. In total, there are approximately 155,000 active public drinking water systems across the country. Most Americans – just under 300 million people – receive their drinking water from one of the nation’s 51,356 community water systems. Of these, just 8,674 systems, or approximately 17%, serve close to 92% of the total population, or approximately 272.6 million people. Small systems that serve the remaining 8% of the population frequently lack both economies of scale and financial, managerial, and technical capacity, which can lead to problems of meeting Safe Drinking Water Act standards. https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/drinking-water/conditions-capacity/

Each year, red flags over toxic drinking water are raised across the nation, with reasons varying from location to location. As reported by The Atlantic, aging water pipes have become an increasingly common source of toxic exposure. While the article describes the situation in Flint, Michigan, many other areas around the US struggle with similar problems: "... [A]bnormally high levels of e. coli, trihalomethanes, lead, and copper have been found in the city's water, which comes from the local river (a dead body and an abandoned car were also found in the same river) ... [R]esidents say that the city government endangered their health when it stopped buying water from Detroit last year and instead started selling residents treated water from the Flint River ..." In December 2015, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder apologized for the state's mishandling of the situation in Flint, and Dan Wynant, head of the state Department of Environmental Quality, resigned. The state has now allocated $10 million to water testing and distribution of water filters.