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Local Water May Taste Like Chlorine

Chlorine
A man fills a glass with tap water | Image by New Africa/Shutterstock.

North Texas residents may notice a more potent taste or smell of chlorine in their tap water, but local officials assure everyone the water is still safe to drink.

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) is conducting annual chlorine maintenance on the water transmission system until April 3, having begun on March 6.

The NTMWD has temporarily changed the disinfectant used in the water treatment process as part of an annual treatment that is “required to protect public health,” according to the organization.

The change will affect over two million customers across 10 counties, including Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, and Hunt. The treatment reportedly improves the drinking water quality and lessens the need for flushing fire hydrants during warm seasons.

“Protection of public health and keeping our water safe is a top priority,” said Zeke Campbell, NTMWD assistant director for water treatment and conveyance, in a statement last month.

“This common maintenance practice is an essential step in our advanced year-round treatment and disinfection process and does not increase the amount of chlorine in the system,” he continued. “The water remains safe to drink and use every day, and we continue to meet or surpass safe drinking water standards.”

The statement said the normal disinfection process “keeps drinking water free of harmful microorganisms,” including “parasites and viruses.” The process occurs in two steps, first treating the water at the treatment plant, then adding chloramine disinfectant (a mixture of chlorine and ammonia) to “maintain the water quality on its journey through the miles of pipes to homes and businesses.”

“During this temporary change, NTMWD suspends adding ammonia and uses free chlorine to keep the water disinfected as it travels through the pipes,” the statement continued. “It is important to do this before summer because hotter temperatures can increase the potential for bacterial growth in pipes.”

The NTMWD said that the absence of ammonia could make the chlorine taste, odor, and texture more noticeable to some people and advised several methods to neutralize the chlorine, including placing a pitcher of water in the refrigerator overnight and adding citrus or vitamin C to the water.

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1 Comment

  1. ThisGuyisTom

    In the Spring of 2018, residents and pets who were using water from North Texas Municipal Water District NTMWD started having weird and wild symptoms. Rashes, itching, upset stomachs, nausea, cancer, losing a baby, etc. Soon residents got together and brought Erin Brockovich to town. 
    Activist Erin Brockovich (once played by Julia Roberts in a movie of the same name) wrote this article: https://www.facebook.com/ErinBrockovichOfficial/posts/10160152296765494   describing the lame water treatment process in the Plano and North Texas Municipal Water District area.
     
    Regina Imburgia of DallasForSaferWater organized a Tuesday May 15, 2018 event entitled: “Tap Water – How Can It Be Safer?” which was held at the Garland Plaza Theatre.
    Starting off the event, listen to Jamie Stephens who gives the background of the SaferWaterNTX.ORG group that grew to 13 Thousand residents of Plano, Frisco, et al in less than a month!
    VIDEO – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmZgxXeUwA
     
    Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for “The Dallas Morning News” writes a superb report about it all entitled: “North Texas Municipal Water District fights critics with a dirty Web trick”.  https://web.archive.org/web/20210225083826/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2018/05/17/north-texas-municipal-water-district-fights-critics-with-a-dirty-web-trick/
     
    See much more information this topic including chemicals used at Home Page 2 of DallasForSaferWater
    https://dallasforsaferwater.com/home-page-2
    [Webpages are heavy, so give it time to load. Computers work best.]

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