Long Beach Water Safe, Chlorine Not Excessive, City Says

LONG BEACH, NY — Following complaints from Long Beach residents that elevated chlorine levels in the city's water supply had caused sometimes painful eye, skin and throat irritations, the city's public works commissioner said the water is safe and suggested some people might just be more sensitive to chlorine than others.

The city has been treating its water with higher levels of chlorine since E. coli was detected in the water supply. Nassau County health officials had declared the city's water safe to drink, but the water purification department was instructed to keep chlorine levels in the water at twice normal levels until a sufficient number of samples showed the water was clear of coliform bacteria.

In the weeks since the city began complying with the order, residents have complained that their eyes burn in the shower, that their skin feels itchy or their throats dry. Many complained of stomach irritation and one person even experienced tongue numbness.

Several homes reek of chlorine.

"The smell of chlorine at times in the house is so strong, you feel like you're in a public pool," Ann Marie Klosky told Patch earlier this week.

But John Mirando, the city's public works commissioner, told Patch on Friday his department has not received many complaints about the chlorine.

"We've gotten a few," he said. "Some people are a little more sensitive than other people, mostly about the taste."

Mirando suggested that residents who drink tap water first pour the liquid into a container and place it into the refrigerator with the cap loosened.

"The chlorine dissipates rather rapidly," he said. "And you should not have a taste issue with the chlorine."

Mirando, whose been in the water supply industry for four decades, confirmed that the city adds "residual" chlorine to the water at a concentration of 2 parts per million. But by the time the disinfectant actually gets out into the system, he said, the concentration has fallen to 1.5 parts per million. The normal residual level is about 1 part per million, and that normally falls between 0.4 and 0.6 part per million by the time it reaches homes and businesses — "all very safe levels of chlorination," Mirando said.

Such levels should be low enough that people don't experience side effects, he said, unless they're particularly sensitive — or looking for them.

"A lot of it is subjective," he said. "A lot of it's what you're expecting to find. For different people, it's a different sensitivity level."

Mirando said residents who test their drinking water with chlorine kits get a range, not a precise figure. The department uses a device called a colorimeter, which uses a light sensor to determine the exact residual.

"So people who are saying there's 1 or 1.5 (parts per million) in their water are really not getting accurate results with pool kits," he said.

The department maintains records on how much residual chlorine it's putting into the water supply, measuring the levels every hour and every day, Mirando said. He declined to share those records with Patch, citing a city policy that requires a formal open records request to share such documents. Patch has filed a public records request to obtain them.

Mirando expects the chlorine treatment will continue into next week. The next round of samples will be taken Tuesday.

Once the all-clear is given, health officials will allow the city to reduce residual chlorine levels to the normal 1 part per million to protect against contaminants that could find their way into the water supply.

Federal regulations prevent municipalities from upping chlorine levels to over 4 parts per million.

As for how E. coli got in the water supply, Mirando said, an evaluation is ongoing. E. coli is a coliform bacteria that is the best indicator of fecal pollution and the possible presence of pathogens.

"We may never know where that E. coli came from," he said.

The city has conducted three rounds of sampling — taking 55 total samples — and each has tested negative for coliforms, he said.

"This was probably just an isolated incident of one house," he said.

Health officials will also examine the strain of E. coli found in a second homeowner's daughter and compare it to the strain found in the water supply to determine whether that was, in fact, the cause. An earlier sample taken at the residence came back negative, he said.

"We do know based on sampling out at our plants and our wells that it didn't come from our treatment plant and didn't come from our source," said Mirando. "So this is probably related to that one house."