Pinellas County Utilities is making the necessary change to our water disinfection process. In May 2002, the disinfectant of our potable (drinking) water will be chloramines instead of the current disinfectant, chlorine. Chloramine is a form of disinfectant produced by combining chlorine with ammonia. Both chloramine and chlorine are disinfectants that destroy potentially harmful bacteria should they enter the potable water system.

Chloramines have been used safely in the United States and Canada for many years. Tampa and Miami/Dade are among the cities in Florida which use chloramines as part of their water treatment process. For most normal uses of potable water, chloraminated water is the same as chlorinated water. There are two groups of people, however, who need to take special care with chloraminated water: kidney dialysis patients and fish owners. Chloramines must be removed from the water used in the kidney dialysis process and from water that is used in fish tanks and ponds.

This web page will help you understand chloramines and the associated changes in your water treatment process. If you have any questions about this topic or any other water quality issue, please contact us at 727/464-4000.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• To view Pinellas County Utilities' chloramines brochure, Click Here!  (271kb)

CHLORAMINES IN PINELLAS COUNTY UTILITIES "UTILITALK" A bi-monthly publication for PCU customers
Vol 16/Issue 2, April/May 2002  (558kb)	Chloramines, questions & answers
Vol 16/Issue 1, February/March 2002  (195kb)	Chloramines, Special Care for Dialysis Patients & Aquatic Life
Vol 15/Issue 5, October/November 2001  (52kb)	Chloramines, a new water treatment process.