Better Water on Tap in Ventura With Change in Purifying Agent

Ventura residents will taste a difference when they turn on the tap later this month, as the city switches the chemical it uses to purify drinking water.

When the switch from chlorine to chloramines takes place, city water officials say, the taste and smell of residents’ water will improve. Residents have complained for years about the chlorine taste of their tap water.

The change is necessary because one of the city’s main water sources already uses chloramines, and the two water purification systems must be compatible for the city to blend water from those sources, said Don Davis, the city’s utilities manager. The new disinfectant also lasts longer in the water supply and will help reduce the possibility of cancer-causing trihalomethanes forming in the water supply. For most residents, the change will have little or no effect, other than improving the taste of tap water. But city water officials caution that people with aquariums and some kidney dialysis patients may need to take extra steps before using tap water.

Aquarium owners will need to add neutralizing chemicals to dechlorinate the water before adding it to fish tanks. The chemicals are available at most pet stores.

And because chloramines can pass through the filter of a dialysis machine, dialysis patients need to notify the company that services their equipment of the upcoming water disinfectant change, Davis said. The city has notified dialysis providers of the pending change.