Arlington and Fairfax Water quality alert

[Der ABT]

just figured id pass this along in case anyone missed it or had filters that are close to needing replacement

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/drinking-water-taste-odor-might-change-as-utilities-make-temporary-switch-to-chlorine/2014/03/11/15ca4cee-a92e-11e3-8d62-419db477a0e6_story.html

 

basically going to do the yearly flush with chlorine instead of chloramine

 

"The Washington Aqueduct, which supplies water wholesale to DC Water, Arlington County and Fairfax Water, will switch to chlorine from its usual disinfectant, chloramine, as part of a routine program to clean the drinking water system, officials said. The temporary switch, which is common among U.S. water systems that use chloramine during most of the year, will occur from March 17 to April 28, officials said"

[Coral Hind]

Good info, thanks for sharing. I'm going to sticky this until the flush has been completed.

[YHSublime]

Thanks! And insert sigh here.

[AlanM]

Chlorine is easier to remove than chloramine anyway, right?

[dante411x]

New filters should be able to remove chlorine same as chloramine right? Maybe I'll take this time to switch mine out..

 

 

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[Der ABT]

pretty sure its the carbon/activated carbon that will remove the chloramine and chlorine......just wanted to point out that most likely the amount they add will be signifcantly higher than usual. ....so you may want to make water....NOW vs during the period if possible.

[AlanM]

Ah, good point. wonder if wssc is doing the same thing.

[JeffG93]

Ah, good point. wonder if wssc is doing the same thing.

 

I thought WSSC uses chlorine generally - is this not true?

[YHSublime]

Well, did 50 gallons, making another 50 on top. This might be the month to get the dosers fine tuned.

[davelin315]

Chloramine is harder to remove. Most use GAC (Granular Activated Carbon) as a stage on their RO units, though, and simply stated this breaks down the bond and allows the chlorine and ammonia content to be removed whereas regular carbon will not remove chloramine or break the bond.

[s2nhle]

Thank you for information sharing.

[wangspeed]

I'd rather deal w/ chlorine.  For Prince William county folks, we get our water from FFX county during parts of the year, which is when you need to watch out for chloramines.

[wade]

From what I recall - higher chlorine counts can very seriously eat up RO membranes.  It is a very good idea to have a carbon filter in line prior to the membrane.

[darkcirca]

I believe Loudoun also gets water from Fairfax - I didn't see anyone mention them. I know our water is starting to get the chlorine smell.

[hypertech]

Thanks. My water recently started to taste like chlorine so this at least explains why.

[overklok]

This is something Fairfax Water does every spring. When you take a shower, you will notice a stronger chlorine smell.