The Department recently mailed a public notice with residents’ June water bills. The notice, which can be viewed here, explains an elevated level of disinfection byproducts in our water system. The notice is mandated by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).
The Department shared the notice in an effort to inform residents that prolonged exposure to these compounds over a long period of time may cause health effects. Drinking water with the compounds at this level can still be consumed in moderation over short periods.
The Department adds chlorine to the water supply as a disinfectant. Chlorine has been used for over 100 years as the most common disinfection chemical used for water treatment. Using it creates safer water because it eliminates the possibility of pathogenic bacteria contaminating the water supply. However, the chlorine causes by-products, HAA5 chemicals, that the Department tries to minimize as much as possible.
The original language from MassDEP had an inaccurate link, which stated there are no filters for HAAs. The Department reached out to MassDEP and had this link corrected, which should be available next week.
Reverse osmosis and carbon filters can reduce HAA5 contaminants. Indoor refrigerator filters have carbon filters, which have been proven to reduce the amount of disinfection byproducts.
The Department takes all exceedances extremely seriously, and always tries to minimize the amount of chlorine used to reduce the amount of byproducts formed. This site-specific sampling exceedance does not represent the entire town’s water system on a daily basis. It is used as a worst-case scenario to help evaluate a treatment process. Another sample will be taken the first week in August in hopes that our results will be below the action level, as they have been previously.
Those with questions are encouraged to contact the Department at 978-352-5750.