City of Cocoa’s Annual Water System Maintenance Set for February 22-March 22

By Space Coast Daily // January 11, 2025

As part of a regular maintenance program, the Cocoa Utilities Department will conduct it’s annual temporary water disinfection conversion process beginning February 22, 2025 and ending March 22, 2025 to provide additional protection against contamination and ensure your water remains safe.

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA, FLORIDA – As part of a regular maintenance program, the Cocoa Utilities Department will conduct it’s annual temporary water disinfection conversion process beginning February 22, 2025 and ending March 22, 2025 to provide additional protection against contamination and ensure your water remains safe.

During this time, customers may notice a slight chlorine odor or a change in taste of their tap water.

These temporary changes will not affect the safety of your drinking water.

Need for Disinfection

Disinfection is a critical part of water treatment to keep water safe. Disinfection is a two-step process that first treats the water at the plant and then adds disinfectant to maintain water quality as it travels long distances through pipes to homes and businesses. Both steps are needed to keep tap water free of harmful microorganisms, such as parasites and viruses.

Cocoa uses free chlorine (first step) to disinfect water at the treatment plant and then adds ammonia to form chloramines (second step) before leaving the plant. This maintains required water disinfection levels from the time it leaves the treatment plant all the way to your tap.

Temporary Change in Disinfection

Each spring for about one month, we suspend the typical use of ammonia to allow the remaining chlorine to keep the water disinfected as it travels through the system. This temporary change in disinfectant helps maintain the system and high water quality year-round. It’s important to do this before summer because hotter temperatures can increase the potential for bacterial growth in pipes.

Common Disinfection Practice

Many water providers who use chloramine maintain their systems using this same process. This is the fifth year that Cocoa Utilities has done this, and high water quality has always been maintained.

Did you know?

During the temporary change in disinfectant our crews will help move the blend of chloramine- and chlorine-disinfected water through the system by flushing water from fire hydrants.

Certain facilities such as hospitals, dialysis centers, manufacturing companies, and fish and amphibian sellers/owners need to be aware of the temporary change in disinfectant since changes in our treatment process may impact their operations.

Even at low concentrations, some people may be more sensitive to taste, smell and skin contact with chlorine. Here are some simple steps to help minimize those effects:

1. Run the tap for a few minutes before using the water.

2. Fill a pitcher of water and let it sit for several hours to allow any residual chlorine to evaporate.

3. Consider installing a carbon filter on kitchen/bathroom faucets or shower heads or replacing existing filters with new ones.