The Region - News from May 17, 1985

Metropolitan Water District officials announced that they will begin purifying water again with chloramine on June 3. The MWD switched from chlorine to chloramine last November, then temporarily halted its use in December after discovering that health clinics using kidney dialysis machines were not properly filtering the chemical from water. Officials have also advised against use of chloramine-treated tap water in fish tanks. MWD spokesman Mike McGuire said clinics treating kidney patients have installed proper equipment to remove the potentially toxic substance. The switch to chloramine was made after the Environmental Protection Agency found that chlorine produced trihalomethane, a potentially cancer-causing compound. The MWD provides about half of Southern California’s water supplies.