Sunday, June 30, 2024
The City of Gatesville has announced that they will conduct a free chlorine burn during the month of July.
Free chlorine burns, also known as a free chlorine conversion, occur when a water system typically uses chloramine. The free chlorine burn removes ammonia that is needed to form chloramine from the treatment process and disinfects the water with only chlorine.
The chlorine burn is a common practice by many public water systems throughout the country to reduce the number of bacteria, so that a satisfactory disinfectant residual can be maintained throughout the distribution system.
The process can also be used as a preventative strategy or to stop nitrification, which is a microbial process that converts ammonia and similar nitrogen compounds into nitrite, and nitrate and diminishes water quality.
According to a 2016 EPA survey, 25-40% of the utilities that use chloramine reported using free chlorine burns to control nitrification.
Prior to the free chlorine burn process, it is important to know that when a proper conversion is conducted it can often cause the water to have a different taste and odor than when using chloramine for disinfection.
According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Equality, there are no health effects associated with the change of taste and odor. Once the water system returns to using chloramine as a disinfectant, the taste and odor will return to normal.
For further details, contact the City of Gatesville at 254-865-8951.
