Water disinfectant — a chance for change

According to the EPA, chloramine is almost ineffective in killing the dangerous giardia and cryptosporidium germs, yet the SFPUC states that chloramine is more protective of us than chlorine. The EPA also states chloramine does not kill many viruses and bacteria, yet they do not state how this will affect a possible terrorist act on our water supply. And, according to the World Health Organization, the nitrification problems associated with chloramine can cause a rare dangerous form of anemia in infants.

Chloramine eats through plumbing fixtures, and we are expected to replace them at our own cost. Chloramine kills fish and amphibians, and we are supposed to delay their deaths by buying "pills" for the animals. If something kills two species of the animal kingdom, how can a government in good conscience approve this for drinking and bathing purposes? Parts of Canada have already put a significant amount of money into investigating the effects of chloramine in their rivers and estuaries.

There is research that states that chloramine should only be used with certain types of water systems with certain pH levels — I wonder if that has anything to do with chloramine eating through the pipes in some areas and causing lead to be released in certain parts of the country.

There have been intimations by the SFPUC that peoples' health problems from chloramine are psychosomatic (all in their mind) because they were anticipating a change in the water disinfection -see question 32 of SFPUC's "Chloramination Questions and Answers." My Mar. 9, 2004 op. ed. piece was the first to address the chloramine problems, and many people called me about their health problems since the addition of chloramine to the water. Let me state here for the record that some of these people did not know chloramine had been added to the water Feb. 2, 2004, and were suffering from severe rashes, welts, asthma, etc. They did not know what was happening to them. When they read my article, they thought that perhaps it was from the chloramine. Some of these people stopped drinking and bathing in the chloramine, and their symptoms disappeared. When they went to doctors to discuss it, every one of their doctors had never heard of the word "chloramine"- certainly posing a dilemma for treatment.

When many people called me about my initial op-ed piece, I was asked what could be done. I tried to stay as objective as possible, as I write op-ed pieces, but my recommendation was that perhaps they should send letters to their respective city councils, the SFPUC, the Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the EPA, and to send them "return receipt requested," thereby documenting everything, and putting to rest the notion that no one has complained about chloramine since its addition to our water system. To their credit, some of these people have done this, and perhaps this will help in the independent investigation of our water disinfectant.

The most unfortunate thing about chloramine is that — unlike chlorine — it cannot be removed from the water, unless perhaps a biotech or high tech company spends perhaps over $100,000 to install a state-of-the-art filtration system. There are companies which advertise that much of chloramine can be removed from our home water systems, but upon further discussion, many admit the filter removes only the chlorine. Thus, one is left with pure ammonia to cause other problems.

According to our own government, not many scientific studies have been done on the human health effects of chloramine. This in itself should have been enough to stop the introduction of chloramine into our water. And for years the government said that Chlorine, DDT, and MTBE were safe, yet now we are paying the price for these inaccurate claims. This same government has now banned DDT, MTBE, and are currently saying chlorine can cause cancer. The same will probably happen with chloramine, as we are already seeing the results of this incorrect decision by the government which is supposed to protect us.

Barbara LaRaia lives in San Bruno, and has written about Chloramine since last year. She can be reached at barbaralaraia2004@yahoo.com.