The Millbrae City Council will respond to months of public comment about the addition of chloramine to local drinking water at its Tuesday night meeting, said Councilman Marc Hershman.
Residents have been protesting the additive at City Council meetings for several months, saying it poses a serious health risk. Hershman is the council delegate to the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency and asked General Manager Art Jensen to report on chloramine at Thursday's BAWSCA meeting. Hershman hopes to find out if other cities are receiving complaints about the additive.
"At this point no one else is expressing any interest in it. It's not clear to me that this is a controversy in any other BAWSCA community," said Hershman.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission voted to implement chloramine as a way to purify the water supply last year. The switch from chlorine to chloramine happened earlier this year, but opponents say the additive is extremely harmful because it contains ammonia.
The SFPUC says chloramine is a more stable disinfectant and lasts longer in water. It is expected to improve the taste and odor of water. SFPUC officials say it is safe for people and animals to drink, cook and bathe in.
However, chloramine is not safe for all. Because fish take water directly into their gills and their bloodstream, the compound could hurt them. People should also avoid using the treated water for dialysis.
At this point BAWSCA is just hearing a report on chloramine, but Hershman said if the board agrees to oppose the additive, it wields enough power to make the SFPUC change its policy.
BAWSCA represents 26 Bay Area cities and water districts that receive water from Hetch Hetchy, a system controlled by the SFPUC. The system-wide conversion to chloramine reaches 2.4 million customers in San Francisco, parts of Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.