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The town of Elon has taken measures to lower the amount of contaminants in its water after routine testing in 2009 showed an amount exceeding the state’s standard, the town manager said.
The town has flushed some of its water lines to reduce the amount of trihalomethanes from the water.
“The flushing did a great job,” Town Manager Mike Dula said.
Trihalomethanes are byproducts of the chlorination process, which is used to disinfect drinking water. They form when chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic and inorganic matter in water.
Elon buys water from Burling­ton. The town alerted residents in its December newsletter that the average level of trihalomethanes from April to June was 0.09 milligrams per liter, just above the state’s maximum contaminant level of 0.08 mg/L.
The notice said that it was not a health emergency and people did not need to switch to bottled water, but “some people who drink the water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL for many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys or central nervous system and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.”
After the flushing, the town got readings of less than 0.05 mg/L of trihalomethanes.
Dula said he can not recall the town’s water exceeding the state standard before.
“If it has, it’s been a long time,” he said. The town does “constant monitoring of the system” and takes hundreds of samples each year.
Next year, trihalomethanes will not be a concern because Burlington will switch from chlorine to chloramines as a disinfectant, Dula said.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at 373-7088 or jamie.kennedy @news-record.com.