Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1522634
JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt 8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 JUNE 2024 NEWS Central Business Centre, Level 2, Tarxien Road, Gudja, GDJ 1907 www.aims.org.mt info.aims@aims.org.mt 23174400 WSC reduces chemicals causing bad tap HAVE you noticed that tap water tastes a bit better than usual? Chemical parameters pub- lished in the Water Services Corporation's annual report for 2023 suggest that it should. This is because the average chloride content in tap water was reduced to 350 mg/l, a con- siderable improvement from its level of 500 mg/l in 2021. This represents a 30% reduction in three years, which comes with a reduction of chlorine content by 30% over the span of a year. While chloride is an ion pri- marily affecting taste and pipe corrosion, which enters water from natural and anthropogen- ic sources, chlorine is a disin- fectant deliberately added to water to kill pathogens, ensur- ing safety from microbial con- tamination. The chloride content in tap water has a major influence on the taste and odour of tap wa- ter – they can impart a salty, bitter, and metallic taste and odour to the water. Moreover, elevated chloride levels can lead to the corrosion of metal pipes, contributing to the me- tallic taste of tap water. And in places where water is chlorinated for disinfection, higher chloride levels can re- act with chlorine, potentially forming compounds like chlo- ramines, which can have a dis- tinctive taste and odour. Water safety not impacted by chlorine reduction Another important factor in- fluencing customer acceptance of potable water is the taste and odour resulting from the disin- fection processes in place. Disinfection is traditionally done by adding chlorine. How- ever, a disinfection optimisa- tion exercise by the WSC has now reduced the chlorine dos- age to 0.8 mg/l. Despite the 30% reduction in chlorine levels, this had no impact on the microbiological safety of tap water, as certified by Yale University's Environ- mental Performance Index, which ranked Malta among the top 10 countries in the world for the safest drinking water. The WSC now plans to further fine-tune the disinfection pro- cesses in the next few years in a way that chlorine dosing is further reduced by shifting to alternative disinfection tech- nologies already in service at the Reverse Osmosis plant in Ħondoq, Gozo. The WSC report does not Water Services Corporation reports 30% reduction in chlorides between 2021 and 2023 and a 30% reduction in chlorine