You may notice a slight chlorine taste or odor in your tap water during the next few weeks.
The City of West Palm Beach, which supplies drinking water to customers in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and South Palm Beach, is flushing its water distribution lines with chlorine.
The modification, which occurs annually, began on Monday, July 6, and is scheduled for completion on July 27. During this period, the city’s public utilities department is deploying chlorine disinfection instead of the usual chloramine disinfection.
Chloramine, made from mixing chlorine and ammonia, provides longer-lasting protection with less taste and fewer byproducts, according to the city’s utilities department. The temporary switch to chlorine will clean accrued biofilm and sediment out of water pipes.
If you want to avoid the taste and odor of chlorine in the water, the city recommends filling a container and leaving it in the refrigerator for several hours so the chlorine can evaporate.
Customers who use a home dialysis machine are advised to contact their health professionals to learn how to remove residual chlorine from their tap water. Those with tropical fish tanks or with fish and shellfish holding tanks should also seek professional advice on the safe removal of chlorine from the city water. The method for removing chlorine differs from that of chloramine removal.
West Palm Beach relies primarily on surface water that flows 20 miles from Lake Okeechobee through canals and wetlands to Lake Mangonia and East Clear Lake, where it is stored for processing in the city’s water treatment plant on Banyan Boulevard.
For more information, contact the city’s public utilities customer service division at 561-822-1300.
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