Jerry Higgins
Director
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-VPI Water Authority
(540)639-2575 h2o4u@usit.net
WATER
AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES NEW DISINFECTION PROCESS FOR DRINKING WATER
March
28, 2005 - Beginning June 27, 2005 the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-VPI
Water Authority will change its method of disinfecting drinking water,
from free chlorine to chloramination, a process in which ammonia is added
to chlorinated water. Water supplied to customers at Virginia Tech, and
the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, will be affected by this
change, as well as some Montgomery County residents on public water
systems that purchase water from the Towns. Chloraminated water is
perfectly safe for drinking, cooking, bathing, and all daily uses.
Chloramination
can affect the way people treat disinfected water. Specifically, two
groups of people will need to take special care with chloraminated water:
kidney dialysis patients and owners of fish, other aquatic animals, and
reptiles (including owners of lobster tanks at grocery stores and
restaurants). Although drinking the chloraminated water is safe for
kidney dialysis patients, persons who use dialysis machines at home
should contact their physician or their local kidney dialysis center for
guidance on possible modifications to dialysis machines or procedures.
Owners
of fish and aquatic animals should contact their supplier or a local pet
store for supplies and information. Dechloraminating water for use in
aquariums is a somewhat different procedure than dechlorinating water.
Products for dechloraminating water are commercially available.
The
change to chloramination is being made to continue to comply with
increasingly stringent federal and state regulations on levels of
disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water. These regulations
require water suppliers to reduce the disinfection byproducts such as
Haloacetic Acid (HAA) that are produced when chlorine is used by itself
as a disinfectant. Although chlorine has traditionally been used as a
disinfecting agent in the water supply industry because of its
effectiveness, the disinfection byproducts are now being recognized by
federal and state agencies as a possible health risk over a lifetime of
exposure. To reduce this risk and to continue to provide high quality
drinking water, the Authority must make this change.
Hundreds
of water suppliers, including the City of Richmond, and most of the
Tidewater area of Virginia have successfully switched to chloramination.
Commonly
asked questions and additional information about the switch over to
chloramination will soon be available at http://www.h2o4u.org
