Some people in Illinois may soon notice the water coming out of their taps tastes different.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of adopting new regulations that would more than double the minimum amount of chlorine required in public water supplies, a move intended to prevent the outbreak of water-borne illnesses such as Legionnaires’ disease.
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CHICAGO – Some people in Illinois may soon notice the water coming out of their taps tastes different.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of adopting new regulations that would more than double the minimum amount of chlorine required in public water supplies, a move intended to prevent the outbreak of water-borne illnesses such as Legionnaires’ disease.
Since 2015, 13 elderly residents of the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy have died of complications caused by Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia caused inhaling water vapor infected with Legionella bacteria.
“Legionella is the target of that rule,” said Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, co-chair of the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR.
JCAR gave its blessing to the proposed new rule Tuesday during a brief meeting in Chicago. That means IEPA is now free to formally adopt the new rule, making it enforceable on all public water systems in the state.
Although there was no debate about the proposed new rule during Tuesday’s meeting, the issue raising the state’s rule on minimum chlorine levels was the subject of intense discussion for nearly two years between state officials, local water supply systems and a nonprofit organization called the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease.
Chlorine is an element on the periodic chart that has been used for decades to disinfect water. It is also a key ingredient in household bleach.