Pembroke Pines water safe to drink says officials

Pembroke Pines city officials hope an upcoming meeting will shed light on the health department’s position on the city’s water quality.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the City Commission chambers at 10100 Pines Blvd.

“The mayor has called this special meeting because he wants to hear directly from the Florida Department of Health in person about what their advisory means, in the most layman’s of terms, and whether or not there should be any concern,” the city manager’s office said in a statement Tuesday.

The state health department took issue with a February 23 letter from the city, in which the city said the water was safe to drink.

In a letter to Pembroke Pines, the health department said at the end of 2016, half of the city’s six sampling sites had higher levels of trihalomethanes than allowed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, trihalomethanes form when water disinfectants, such as chlorine, react with organic material in water.

One sample site remains above the limit, meaning the city is still in violation of the regulation, the health department said. A health department spokesman said the City Commission requested Wednesday’s meeting to publicly answer questions about the violations and the quality of the water.

The city says the situation is not an emergency and water does not require boiling at this point, but said people who are pregnant, elderly or have a severely compromised immune system should consult a doctor before drinking the water.