In a potential setback for efforts by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the city of San Jose to expand the use of recycled water in Silicon Valley, tests found that trace amounts of a chemical suspected to cause cancer appear to have spread from recycled water used in an irrigation project into shallow groundwater.
The study, funded by the water district, began in September 2008 at Integrated Device Technology, a semiconductor company in South San Jose, and continued for 18 months.
Researchers irrigated grass on the company’s property with recycled water and found that small amounts of NDMA, a chemical that is created as a byproduct of disinfecting water with chlorine, seeped into shallow groundwater.
Environmentalists said the issue is of concern, but ultimately solvable. “NDMA is a pretty potent chemical at very low levels. It is not uncommon to detect it in wastewater,” said Jennifer Clary, policy analyst with Clean Water Action, an environmental group in San Francisco.
Information from Silicon Valley Mercury News.
Yes, the filters sold by Friends of Water remove NDMA and other byproducts of chlorination.
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