News Coverage
Chlorination's risks
Published November 13, 2002
But there's a downside. High doses of chlorination byproducts, created when chlorine reacts to organic matter in the water, are carcinogenic and may result in birth defects or miscarriages.
A study released in January by Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group placed Arizona among 24 states with elevated risks to pregnant women because of chlorination byproducts in many water systems.
John Power, water quality chief for the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department, said water companies must test
Glendale, for example, was one of regularly for the presence of trihalomethanes, a dangerous form of chlorination byproduct. If elevated levels are found, filtration or oxidation of organic matter in the water must occur before chlorination.
50 U.S. communities with elevated chlorination byproduct levels identified in the study, which examined testing data from 1995 to 2001. Lee Hecht, manager of Glendale's Water Quality Laboratory, said the city has minimized the byproducts using coagulation and filtration treatments before chlorination.