Washington, D.C., 2001. Columbia, S.C. 2005. Durham and Greenville (N.C.) in 2006. Sebring, Ohio last August. Flint, Mich. and Jackson this year. It seems that the number of communities whose water is contaminated with lead continues to rise. The water woes of Mississippi are an ongoing topic of conversation, but the daily effects on those living in affected areas often get lost among the noise. Gaylyn Parker, a mother of four, lives east off N. Flag Chapel Road, with her children, Gabriel, Caleb (17), Winter (7, and Aiden (7). Parker stated that she was indignant to hear the City of Jackson announce high lead concentrations, based on a sample taken six months earlier by the Mississippi Department of Health. Parker says that she has learned to live with problems since moving from Georgia to Jackson in 2013. What is the point of me having to purchase water or a filter? Parker hasn’t used the Mississippi Department of Health reduced-price water check or food for $15. She has taken steps to ensure her family’s water safety. Water bottles are another option. It’s a big person like me. They advise me to drink at most 84 ounces of fluids per day. This house now has five members. Let’s say that everyone drinks 50 ounces per day. This is fifty times five. She still uses over a case per day.” Instead of buying bottles of water, she purchased a filter for her kitchen sink. She feels she is making an impact with it and some replacement filters. She said that the water tastes even better now. It’s still twenty bucks here, twenty there, but it’s worth it. Jackson will attract people. People will want to come to Jackson. Jackson is not the destination for them even if they do come down. It just slips past us because we can’t get something like water together.” Stephanie Parkinson, 30, a Teach for America student from Ligonier (Pennsylvania), is proud that Jackson was doing something. With her husband, she lives in Belhaven right next to the college. She was already aware of the water crisis that was sweeping the news in January. She didn’t think much about it at first. She was raised in rural Pennsylvania. She has never been bothered by brown water or the occasional boil water notice. “I’ve lived here for eight years. Jackson is actually a larger town than my hometown,” she said. She recalled going to Sam’s Club in the spring to get water. It wasn’t for her own use, but for a work function. The cashier at the check-out counter told her that they had sold out. He said that it was a good thing she arrived when she did, as the fire and police departments had cleared most of the stock. Parkinson stated that people would share information on social media to warn others if they were pregnant or have children younger than six. “I was still breastfeeding so we decided to get some water.” While she was happy to see lead levels decrease as Jackson began to work on the problem, she is anxious to hear the final results in months. Parkinson stated that Jackson was proud of her efforts to highlight the problem. “Given the Flint disaster and considering how Jackson’s affected homes are only a small fraction, they’re still open to discussing and saying something. “I was proud that Jackson was doing some about it,” she said. Her trust in the water system has been shaken. “Even now, I second guess. My son is currently ill or getting better. But he had a stomach virus. I thought it was something he had picked up at daycare, but he was given boil water notices. Did we miss something? The state’s health department made recommendations. Most home lead testing did not find any lead. The Mississippi Department of Health suggests a few simple steps: