DWP says change in water treatment may affect medical services

By Steve Christol
Daily Bruin Contributor

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s
announcement last month that their water treatment methods for
customers in West L.A. will change may affect some medical services
and research facilities at UCLA.

The DWP, which supplies water to UCLA, will change its method of
treating water from using chlorine to chloramines starting in
March. Additionally, local water treatment methods will have to be
employed to remove the chloramines from some of the water on campus
in order to prevent potential problems.

Director of Energy Services and Utilities Dave Johnson said
though no plans have been made to accommodate the existence of
chloramines in the water at UCLA, changes will be implemented as
soon as possible to prevent potential problems from occurring.

“It is not an insurmountable problem, but it does have to
be dealt with,” Johnson said.

Chloramine-treated water, widely used across the U.S. and
Canada, has already been in use for several years in nearby cities
served by the Metropolitan Water District, such as Beverly Hills
and Santa Monica.

DWP’s main reason for making the change to the use of
chloramines is that they will no longer be able to get their water
from the Hollywood reservoir. They will be forced to get their
water from more distant sources, and the cleansing chloramines last
longer in the water, according to the DWP.

Chloramines, a chemical compound of chlorine and ammonia, will
have to be removed from the water before it is used for kidney
dialysis because the chemical is dangerous when inserted directly
into the bloodstream.

Chloramines will also have to be removed from the water before
it is used to support marine life, e.g. in fish tanks or fish
ponds, or in marine life research on campus. Chloramine-treated
water is safe to drink and to use in other ways.

UCLA Environmental Health Sciences Professor Mel Suffet said
using chloramines to treat water is not a cause of significant
problems or concern.

“It is just an alternate approach that is standard
practice across the U.S.” He also noted that chloramines must
be removed from the water before being used in kidney dialysis and
in fish water.

DWP’s current water-treatment chemical ““ chlorine
““ dissipates in light or open air and is safe to use in
medical treatments. This has made additional treatment of water
unnecessary until now. But UCLA does use water softeners and water
filters at some places on campus, according to Johnson.

According to Rita Sedivy, administrator for outpatient dialysis
services at the UCLA Medical Center, chloramines in the bloodstream
can cause hemolysis if present in large amounts, but can be treated
if caught early enough. Hemolysis, the breaking and clumping of red
blood cells, can be fatal in some cases.

“We routinely check our water for chloramines, so our
patients are in no danger,” Sedivy said. Presently, the UCLA
Medical Center treats about 150 adults and 50 children for kidney
dialysis. No other medical procedures are threatened by the
presence of chloramines in the water.

Chloramines’ ability to last longer than chlorine in water
helps them prevent bacterial growth and keep water cleaner, but is
also the reason they are dangerous in kidney dialysis.

According to the DWP, when chloramine-treated water is ingested,
the digestive process neutralizes the chloramines before they reach
the bloodstream, thus making the water safe to drink. Chloramines
also help the water taste and smell better, which is part of the
reason why DWP is making the change.

Lynn Kyin, a DWP water quality inspector, said she hopes
customers will use more tap water instead of bottled water. In the
past customers have called in with complaints that their tap water
smelled bad when used in tea and instead used bottled water. Kyin
said the DWP expects this change will alleviate their
discomfort.

Another factor that is causing the DWP to switch to the use of
chloramines is that they will no longer be able to get water from
the Hollywood reservoir, from which they get their water now.
Instead, the DWP will be routing water from the Sierra Nevada
mountains, as well as buying chloramine-treated water from the
Metropolitan Water District. The Hollywood reservoir, Kyin said,
will most likely go to recreational purposes.

The use of chloramines in treating water will be more expensive
than the use of chlorine, but according to Kyin, “there will
be no increase in cost to the consumer. The additional expenses
will be paid for by the city.”