Why does Pennsylvania American Water use chloramine for the disinfection process?
To comply with new, stringent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, Pennsylvania American Water needed to transition the water treatment disinfection practice at several of its facilities from chlorine to chloramine. We made the change to reduce the levels of disinfection byproducts that EPA has found to have known health risks. These byproducts are potentially harmful contaminants that form when chlorine reacts with organic compounds naturally present in our surface water sources of supply during the normal water purification process. Compared to chlorine, chloramine produces substantially lower concentrations of the disinfection byproducts that the EPA regulates in drinking water. The new federal regulations are in effect, and we took a proactive approach to ensure that our water meets all public health standards prior to the required monitoring that will begin for our larger systems in 2012.
