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Erin Brockovich's avatar

Well, HELLO, everyone! Yes, these problems are everywhere... ugh. Thanks for writing in and I hope you will try some of the steps we've talked about above. Forgot to mention EPA guidelines say chlorine should not exceed 4PPM in your water: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#Disinfectants

Water reports come out every July, so be sure to review them and call your utility with questions/concerns!

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Mason Mattenson's avatar

Hello, I am an Automation Engineer and have worked on large scale water treatment projects. Though this experience I learned a lot about water treatment and as I now know too much I do not drink tap water ever. This is because I have worked with water treatment plants and operators and have learned that they are not at all on top of what they are putting out. They go through the motions to satisfy EPA requirements for testing but rarely give a damn what they are doing. They are bored to death sitting in a treatment plant for hours and frequently over or under feed the chemicals.

I have always been suspicious of tap water causing cancer over prolonged periods of exposure and consumption. Trihalomethanes are not easily monitored real time and yes Erin, these problems are nationwide. There is a long list of problems associated with municipal drinking water supplies and unfortunately money does the talking when it comes to how much effort they put into ensuring that it is safe for general consumption. It is too complicated for the average citizen to understand without going through some education on it. As part of my experience I got a Water Treatment Plant Operator Certification and have been involved in programming and design of the automated systems that run these facilities.

The controls are not always well maintained or calibrated, and a chlorine analyzer out of calibration can cause a gross misfeed of chemicals that can lead to many problems. They add a lot of things to the water from polymers that aid in the filtration process, chlorine, and other chemicals that coat the pipes to aid in flow and corrosion prevention. Then you drink and cook with it.

I've also been involved in air quality automation with the California Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and the refineries but that's a topic for another post.

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