Mountain Water Company adds low levels of chlorine to the water for disinfection purposes. Disinfection is critical to drinking water safety. Chlorine has been the most common water disinfectant used in the United States (US) for nearly 100 years. A dramatic decline in waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever occurred in the U.S. as the number of water systems that disinfected increased. The World Heath Organization considers drinking water chlorination to be one of the most significant advances in public health protection. About 75% of the larger systems and 95% of the smaller systems in the US now use chlorine as their primary disinfectant.

In 2002, the average free chlorine residual in the MWC system was 0.35 milligrams per liter.

For information on reducing the chlorine concentration and/or the hardness of your drinking water contact the National Sanitation Foundation at www.nsf.org/certified/DWTU or the Water Quality Association at www.wqa.org/goldseal.

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More information can be found at the Environmental Protection Agency’s website at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/faq.html