By Carolanne Wright
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
As if California doesn’t have enough worries with its current record-breaking drought, a city in the northern part of the state has created further problems by adding a chemical to their water supply that encourages carcinogen formation. Astoundingly, the City of Sacramento continued testing the chemical in the municipal water supply for an entire year — even after it was discovered the compound creates harmful disinfection byproducts, or DBPs.
The chemical in question? Aluminum chlorohydrate (ACH), a coagulant that bonds with silt and other impurities found in river water. Once bonded, sediment falls to the bottom of treatment plant pools, where it’s then removed. The trouble is, the chemical was a complete failure. According to city officials, DBP numbers rose to “historically high levels when using (ACH) aluminum chlorohydrate.” These disinfection byproducts are associated with cancer, low birth weight and miscarriages. In spite of this, city officials soldiered on with the chemical because they were focused on saving the city “quite a bit of money” and not much else.
