DWP Reports High Chlorine in West L.A. a Week Later

A malfunctioning chlorinator pumped high levels of chlorine into the drinking water supply of 50,000 West Los Angeles customers last weekend, reportedly causing skin rashes and eye and throat irritations, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said Thursday.

The DWP’s announcement came a week after it learned that the aging equipment at its Stone Canyon Reservoir had broken down sometime on Thanksgiving Day. The DWP said it first learned of the problem shortly after 8 a.m. the following morning and replaced the equipment within 2 1/2 hours.

However, customers said that high levels of chlorine persisted in their drinking water at least two days after the repairs were made. The DWP received an estimated 200 customer complaints over the holiday weekend. One woman said she was forced to throw out her turkey soup because of its “bleachy smell.” She and another woman interviewed also complained of burning eyes and skin rashes.

Chlorine is widely used throughout the United States to disinfect drinking water supplies.

Until Thursday, the DWP issued no public notice despite the complaints. Duane L. Georgeson, DWP assistant general manager for water, acknowledged Thursday that the failure to notify customers of high chlorine concentrations resulted from “a serious internal communication problem within the water system.” The DWP’s announcement followed disclosure of the problem Thursday by the office of Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica).

“The extent of the malfunction should have been reported more quickly to management,” Georgeson said. He said steps have been taken to avoid a similar communications breakdown in the future.

He said that concentrations of chlorine peaked at 17 parts per million at the chlorinator. It averaged between 10 and 15 ppm at the tap compared to the usual 1 to 2 ppm. However, he said that aside from “temporary skin irritations” there would be no long-term health effects. His health assessment was backed up by an official of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The DWP said the area affected involved 15 to 20 square miles bounded by Sunset Boulevard to the north, Venice Boulevard to the south, Robertson Boulevard to the east, and Centinela avenue to the West.

On Thursday, Georgeson said the DWP would probably pay the medical bills of customers who experienced health problems resulting from the episode. He urged customers who had concerns or experienced health problems related to the chlorine levels to call the department’s water quality hot line at (213) 481-3131.

Westwood resident Stephanie Davis said she first noticed a problem last Friday. “My skin’s real sensitive and I’m real sensitive to smell as well. I got in the shower Friday morning. It was like I was in a swimming pool. My eyes were watering and my throat was really hurting,” she said.

Ivy Colbert, a secretary in Hayden’s office, said that problems with her eyes stinging began Thursday and got progressively worse over the weekend. She saw a doctor on Monday, she said, but he was unable to say whether her symptoms were caused or aggravated by the chlorine levels.

“But it makes sense to me it was the water. It got so much worse over the weekend,” she said.

She added that she made a turkey soup with tap water and the chlorine odor was so bad she was forced to throw it out. “I didn’t even taste it. It had a pungent, bleachy smell,” she said.

An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 extra pounds of chlorine were pumped into the drinking water over a 23-hour period after a mechanical link between an electric motor and a chlorine flow control valve broke.

Ironically, the old chlorinator, which Georgeson said was between 20- and 25-years-old, had been visually inspected the day before it broke down. No problems were noticed.

The DWP had been planning for two years to replace the chlorinator, Georgeson said. But he said plans were delayed because the city’s architectural review commission objected to the design of a new chlorinator building and later because the DWP was slow in responding to those concerns.

The original target date for the new station to be in service was a year ago.

During the delay, the new equipment was on site but it was not installed at the old facility, Georgeson said. “We were trying to save a few bucks by waiting to install it in the new station,” Georgeson said.

He said all similar chlorinators have been replaced, except for one at the North Hollywood pumping station, which serves the Los Angeles Zoo and Forest Lawn. It also pumps water into Silver Lake Reservoir. But Georgeson said there have been no problems with the chlorinator so far and that if there were, the chlorine would be diluted once it reached the reservoir.

Steve Pardieck, western regional chief for the EPA’s drinking water branch, said in a telephone interview from San Francisco that 17 ppm were “really high.”

But he added, “We’ve seen no health effects attributable to such a short-term exposure to humans. Quite likely, there could be some problems with fish at pet stores or in home aquariums.”

Fred Oehme, a professor of toxicology at Kansas State University at Manhattan, Kan., said in a telephone interview that the concentrations of chlorine reported by the DWP would not pose a serious health problem.