The University of Mississippi Lead in Drinking Water Project

Childhood lead poisoning is a challenging social issue that requires the coordination of health, housing, and environmental law and policy. There is no safe blood level for lead, and all sources of lead exposure for children should be controlled or eliminated. From 2016 - 2023, the National Sea Grant Law Center was part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Mississippi seeking to assess and raise awareness of the contribution of lead pipes and water treatment to lead poisoning in Mississippi through community-based research, education, and outreach. Highlights of that work are featured below.

Project Reports & Articles

Otts, S., et. al., Water System Challenges in the Face of Population Declines: The Jackson, MS Experience, Online Journal of Rural and Urban Research. p. 39-55. (Spring 2022).

Farmer, William, Examining Public Water Systems Servicing Schools and Childcare Facilities to Inform Policy: A Study of Lead Exposure in the Mississippi Delta, Undergraduate Honors thesis, under the direction of Dr. Kristie Willett, UM School of Pharmacy (2021).

Willett, Kristine, Stephanie Showalter, Catherine Janasie, Josephine Rhymes, Kennedy Dickson, and John Green, An Interdisciplinary Approach to Community-Engaged Research Surrounding Lead in Drinking Water in the Mississippi Delta. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 36(1): Article 3 (2021).

Hopper, Donald, Lead in Drinking Water and the Effectiveness of Point-of-Use Filtration, Undergraduate Honors thesis, under the direction of Dr. Cristiane Surbeck, UM School of Engineering (2020).

Fratesi, Mary Alexandra, Community-Based Research Methods to Inform Public Health Practice and Policy: The Case of Lead in the Mississippi Delta. Undergraduate Honors thesis, under the direction of Dr. John Green from Center for Population Studies, University of Mississippi (2018).

S. Otts & C. Janasie, National Sea Grant Law Center, How Safe is the Water?: An Analysis of the Lead Contamination Risks of Public Water Supplies in the Mississippi Delta (Dec. 2017).

Public Water System LCR Exceedances

This map identifies the public water systems in Mississippi reporting 90th percentile concentrations of lead over 5 ppb for the reporting period ending June 2023.

The Lead in Water Blog Series

The Lead in Water Blog Series was a 5-part look at the UM Lead in Drinking Water Project. The UM Lead Project Team conducted research with various community partners to provide testing, outreach, and research data on lead in drinking water in the Mississippi Delta. Click a link below to find out how we worked to increase access to clean drinking water.

1. Lead in Water Series: Meet the UM Team
2. Lead in Water Series: Community Engagement
3. Lead in Water Series: Research in Our Communities
4. Lead in Water Series: MSDH Referral Program
5. Lead in Water Series: The SipSafe Program

News + Media Coverage

Sophia Von Seebach and Kate Kimberlin, The State of Jackson’s Water System, Where It’s Been and Where It’s Going, The Daily Mississippian, December 7, 2023.

Erica Hensley, Mississippians work to reduce childhood lead exposure as state, feds fail to intervene, Southerly, October 5, 2021.

Erica Hensley, Tap water could be linked to dangerous lead levels in Jackson’s kids. Mississippi isn’t keeping track, Southerly, April 28, 2021.

Erica Hensley, How Many Mississippi Kids are Poisoned by Lead?, Massive Undercounts, Inconsistent Testing Provides Officials Few Answers, Mississippi Today, June 24, 2020.

Episode 4 of Mississippi Born, Delta Raised podcast:

Funders

Initial financial support was provided by the University of Mississippi through an Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Investment Grant. Additional financial support was provided by the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute and U.S. Geological Survey under award number G16AP00065. In 2018, the Project Team received seed funding from the University of Mississippi Community Well-being Constellation to expand the geographic scope of the project to Jackson, MS. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Mississippi, MWRRI, or USGS.