Disinfecting our water makes it safe for human consumption

• is the most common drinking water . are important for killing harmful bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms in drinking water. This ensures the safety of drinking water while in storage or while in transit to your faucet. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe water filtration and chlorine disinfection as among the most significant advancements of the last century. It is widely acknowledged that filtration and disinfection of drinking water played a large role in the 20th century’s 50 percent increase in life expectancy. Chlorine has been used to treat North American water supplies for most of the 20th century. The use of chlorine has virtually eliminated instances of waterborne diseases like typhoid fever, and dysentery in the U.S. and other developed countries. The EPA requires treated tap water to have a detectable level of chlorine to help prevent contamination. The EPA’s allowable chlorine levels in drinking water (up to 4 parts per million) pose no known health risk.

• AWWU applies chlorine in the form of liquid (). Chlorine used to disinfect AWWU’s drinking water supply is generated onsite at a concentration of 0.8 percent sodium hypochlorite solution. Comparatively, household bleach is a 5% sodium hypochlorite solution. At Utility water treatment plants the concentrated sodium hypochlorite solution is added to water to achieve a level of 1 part per million.

More information: Sandy Baker, AWWU Public Outreach Coordinator, 786-5636, or [email protected] References: Click on this link to visit EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulations web page.

Feb 2019