Local Issues: Air & Water Quality - Drinking Water

Chloramines Presentation Draws Crowd

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Omaha’s Metropolitan Utilities District is preparing to change the way it disinfects drinking water. Chris Fox, MUD’s Dir. Water Quality, said chlorination is the method now used to destroy most pathogenic organisms to make the water safe to drink and prevent the transmission of disease. However, the chlorine used as a disinfectant can combine with naturally occurring organics in the water to form a family of chemical compounds known as Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs), which include trihalomethanes (THMs). EPA tests determined that THMs are possibly carcinogenic for people.

At Sierra Club’s Jan. 24 meeting, a panel of experts discuss the impact of using chloramines instead of chlorine for disinfecting drinking water. From left to right: Chris Fox, MUD Director of Water Quality; Gene Siadek, MUD Water Supply Engineer; Suzanne Moshier, UNO biochemist; Bruce Dvorak, UNL Extension Environmental Engineering Specialist; and Sharon Skipton, UNL Cooperative Extension Educator.

In order to meet new EPA standards for THMs in drinking water, this Fall M.U.D. will switch from chlorine to chloramines for disinfecting drinking water. Chloramines are a disinfectant formed when chlorine is combined with ammonia. In the disinfection process, chloramines react more slowly than chlorine, but stay active longer. Chloramines form much smaller concentrations of THMs as compared with chlorine. Suzanne Moshier, a biochemist with UNO, said the limited research available about chloramines suggests that they are less dangerous to the environment than chlorine. However, she is concerned that so little research has been published studying the long-term effects.

Bruce Dvorak, Environmental Engineering Specialist at UNL, explained that chloramines have been used for water disinfection for decades including the cities of Council Bluffs, Lincoln, and Denver. However, 80% of public water systems in the U.S. still use chlorine.

Most water consumers need not be concerned about the change, according to Sharon Skipton, UNL Cooperative Extension Educator. However, some precautions are necessary. Water for fish tanks, ponds and reptiles will need to be treated with chemicals. For more information, call the Douglas/Sarpy County Extension Office at (402) 444-7804 and ask for publications “Chloramines Water Disinfection” and “Using Chloraminated Water.”