By SEAN DOUGLAS Saturday, February 4 2012

PORT-OF-SPAIN North/St Ann’s West MP Patricia Mc Intosh yesterday called for an urgent probe into the safety of the nation’s drinking water, alleging that dangerous chemicals are used to process the water supplied by WASA.

She was speaking in the Lower House debate on a Government motion to raise the water rate at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, by the Water Improvement Rate (Point Lisas Industrial Estate) (Variation) Order, 2011.

Mc Intosh called for a commission of inquiry into the safety of WASA’s water (that is, its alleged “levels of toxicity”) and for an action plan to switch WASA’s water-treatment process from use of chemicals such as “alum” and chlorine to the safer chemical, ozone.

She alleged present treatment methods are “archaic and extremely hazardous to health”. Mc Intosh quoted at length from numerous websites, including one by an agency of the US government to suggest the chlorination of water is dangerous. She said chlorine is both toxic and carcinogenic. She said chlorine can create irritation to eye, nose and throat; restlessness; difficulty breathing; coughing and chemical pneumonia. She said that high incidents of allergies, asthma and bronchitis could be due to high levels of chlorine in drinking water. She quoted a 1994 Washington Post story that suggested a strong link between the occurrence of cancer and use of chlorinated water. She said one of the top ten carcinogens, according to the US Govt’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the skin absorption of chlorine while showering. Persons who use chlorinated water have a 93 percent higher risk of developing cancer than those who do not use such water. The use of chlorinated water is linked to a 60 percent higher rate of breast cancer and an 80 higher rate of bladder cancer, than non-use of chlorinated water.