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Local legislator seeks study on chloramine
Mountain View woman tells of woes caused by tap water disinfectant

by Daniel DeBolt

State Assembly member Ira Ruskin, whose district covers several Peninsula cities, says he plans to introduce a bill this year to address the health effects of chloramine, the disinfectant introduced into the Peninsula's tap water in 2004.

"I'm concerned about the people who have relayed the difficulties they have had as a result of the water," Ruskin said. "My research shows there have not been sufficient studies of this. I think it would be prudent to study the effects and have more scientific evidence of what the effects are."

The exact form the bill will take has not yet been decided, Ruskin said. One option is to simply reintroduce a version Ruskin authored last year that stalled in the Appropriations Committee because of its price tag. That bill, AB2402, would have funded a study of the human health effects of chloramine.

According to Citizens Concerned about Chloramine, a local group which met with Ruskin on Jan. 26, more than 300 people have reported skin and respiratory problems which they believe are due to chloramine in the tap water

Members of the group have long been pushing for a scientific study. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides water to Peninsula cities including Mountain View, has not conducted or even heard of a study of the human health effects of the chemical, even though the agency made the decision to use it in 2004.

Ruskin said many agencies have chosen to use chloramine, which is composed of chlorine and ammonia, in response to new regulations from the EPA that call for better water disinfection. Previously, chlorine was used by the SFPUC.

Ruskin said any move to ban chloramine outright was a long way off. "At this point I don't think that is a practical option," he said.

Mysterious health problems

A month after chloramine was introduced to the local tap water, an 82-year-old woman named Shirlee, who lives near the Monta Loma neighborhood, developed skin rashes on her legs that soon spread to the rest of her body.

For almost two years, she said, she sought help from doctors, all of whom told her she had a food allergy. It wasn't until she read an article about chloramine in the Voice last August, she said, that she decided to stop drinking, cooking and washing with the city's tap water.

"Within a week it was beginning to ease up," she said of the rashes. She said when she showed her doctors the Voice article, they didn't believe that it could be the problem — but that they were amazed when they saw the results.

Her skin is still scarred, but she hopes that will go away soon. Once in a while she forgets and drinks some of the tap water, which brings the rashes back quickly, she said.

To cope with the problem she uses bottled water, and invested $1,500 in a filtration system for cooking, dishes and bathing. But that only works when the water is cold.

Taking showers in cold water is "the pits," she added.

For 30 years, Shirlee said, tap water disinfected with chlorine was fine. "Chlorine doesn't bother me," she explained. "But the ammonia does you in. I hope they change the water back to the old way."

Shirlee allowed the Citizens Concerned about Chloramine to post before and after pictures of her legs on the group's Web site, www.chloramine.org. She believes there are others who suffer from chloraminated tap water problems unknowingly.

E-mail Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com