Welcome to the Wasteland! Totally Off Topic.

[poor_nigel]

This was posted in the company news page of our Intranet yesterday:  
 
Notice from Caribou Utilities District Important Information About Your Drinking Water Levels of Haloacetic Acids have exceeded drinking water standards.  There is no immediate risk. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your  doctor. The problem is expected to be resolved within a year.  
 
I started doing Google searches on Haloacetic Acids and all I seemed to get were a bunch of tests that were mainly in jargon that I probably do not want to understand.  Any chemists or biologists out there that knows something about the posible hazards of this situation?  I have never drank tap water here, as I know the locals too well for that.  However, my mother has been making coffee and cooking with it for years.  She is 76 now, so if she contacts cancer in 30 years, not a real big deal.  Any more immediate risks going on with these byproducts?  Are we having fun yet?  I thought it was Mexico and Thailand where we weren't supposed to drink the water???
 
(Message edited by poor_nigel on November 23, 2004)

[David Houck]

From http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN%2FMGArticle%2FWPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031774092299&path=!news&tacodalogin=no
 
Haloacetic acid is created when chlorine at water treatment plants interacts with naturally occurring, organic materials in the water.
 
Studies show that haloacetic acid can cause cancer in laboratory animals, but humans would have to receive the equivalent of a lifetime of intense exposure to the chemical to be chronically affected.
__________________
 
Apparently, three years ago the EPA began requiring water treatment plants to measure the levels of various haloacetic acids in drinking water coming from their plants.  The acids apparently result from the chlorination process.  I guess when the levels exceed 60 parts per billion, the plants notify the public that they've exceeded the EPA threshold.