PURITY UPGRADE FOR WELLS ON TAP.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer LANCASTER - Los Angeles County Waterworks officials plan to spend more than $4.1 million installing new water-disinfection equipment for Antelope Valley customers because of stiffened federal water-purity standards. Waterworks wells will be changed to chloramine chloramine: see hydrazine. disinfection disinfection, n the process of destroying pathogenic organisms or rendering them inert. disinfection, full oral cavity, n a procedure used to reduce active periodontal disease, usually completed within a certain short time frame. instead of chlorine, whose use in disinfecting water containing organic material creates a byproduct by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. Noun 1. linked to bladder cancer bladder cancer Malignant tumour of the bladder. The most significant risk factor associated with bladder cancer is smoking. Exposure to chemicals called arylamines, which are used in the leather, rubber, printing, and textiles industries, is another risk factor. , birth defects birth defects, abnormalities in physical or mental structure or function that are present at birth. They range from minor to seriously deforming or life-threatening. A major defect of some type occurs in approximately 3% of all births. and miscarriages. As a beneficial side effect, the change will lessen the taste and smell of chlorine in local drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. , a Waterworks official said. ``If anything, there will be an improvement in taste and odor,'' said Adam Ariki, assistant division chief of Los Angeles County Waterworks. Waterworks officials say they expect changing the treatment equipment at wells will cost $4.1 million to $4.8 million for Waterworks District 40, which supplies water to west Palmdale, much of Lancaster and parts of Lake Los Angeles and other communities, and District 37, which supplies parts of Acton. The Waterworks districts supply about 150,000 people in the Antelope Valley, Ariki said. County officials expect the work will start in May and be completed in February 2007. Of concern are substances called trihalomethanes, which are created when organic material in California Aqueduct water comes in contact with chlorine used for disinfection. Drinking-water standards as of Jan. 1 limit trihalomethanes to 80 parts per billion, down from the former standard of 100. Aqueduct water supplements local wells in supplying Waterworks customers. Other Antelope Valley water districts are also modifying their treatment processes to reduce trihalomethanes. The county Waterworks wells are being changed to the chloramine process because that is what is being used by the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, which supplies aqueduct water to the Waterworks districts, Ariki said. Trihalomethanes at high levels have been linked to bladder cancer and reproductive harm in laboratory animals, as well as to a birth defect birth defect Genetic or trauma-induced abnormality present at birth. A more restrictive term than congenital disorder, it covers abnormalities that arise during the formation of an embryo's organs and tissues and does not include those caused by diseases (e.g. called spina bifida and to miscarriages. Los Angeles County officials last year hiked rates for customers of Waterworks districts in the Antelope Valley more than 30 percent, in part to pay for the new treatment processes. Officials also hiked the fees paid by home builders to connect into the system. |
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