The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority took another step toward converting the city's water treatment system to one based on chloramines rather than chlorine Wednesday.

The TMUA approved a $925,600 contract with Crossland Heavy Contractors for modifications to the city's two water treatment plants which will allow them to introduce chloramines, which are basically a mixture of chlorine and ammonia.

Joan Arthur heads up the chloramines conversion project; she told KRMG that approving the contract is "not a guarantee of work," and the TMUA can get out of the contract if the city decides not to move forward with a chloramines-based treatment system.

And while it seems the TMUA is basically sold on that system, some citizens -- and at least one outgoing city councilor -- have serious reservations.

Tulsa resident Jeanine Kinney says she's done a lot of research, and when her own city councilor didn't act on her concerns, she turned to District 6 Councilor Jim Mautino, who has become an outspoken critic of the chloramines plan.

He says the ammonia can not only lead to health problems, but also that it will attack plumbing fittings in older homes which have copper pipes soldered with lead.

Mautino says he began studying chloramines about 18 months ago, shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency announced new guidelines for testing the water supply.

Basically, until now Tulsa could use an average of the results at its eight testing sites as its benchmark for passing quality standards.

However, under the new guidelines, cities will have to monitor at many additional locations, and can no longer average the results -- any violation would count against the municipality.

So, Tulsa's experts began doing their homework, crunching some numbers, and looking over their options. They came to the conclusion that a chloramine-based system would best suit the city, and would be the most cost effective.

Many other cities have used chloramines rather than chlorine for many years. Binding ammonia with chlorine makes bacteria-killing properties less effective, but makes them last much longer.

Mautino and others argue that chloramines can degrade, and in the right conditions actual chlorine gas can be released out of a tap. That provides a potential health danger for asthmatics.

Other studies have indicated the possibility of skin and eye problems possibly linked to the use of chloramines.

Bob Bowcock works with Integrated Resource Management, Inc. for the world-reknowned environmental attorney and activist Erin Brockovich.

He attended Wednesday's meeting to express his opinion that by approving the contract, the TMUA was basically biasing itself in favor of moving forward with the chloramine-based system in advance of a December 14 public meeting on the subject.

TMUA board members replied that it was important to approve the contract as a show of good faith to the contractor, and because if they didn't they would have to completely begin anew on the bidding process.

Arthur says TMUA is targeting March, 2012 for completion of the conversion. That's a month after the EPA deadline, but because the weather's still cold, she believes the city's water will pass quality tests.

Bowcock plans to return for the Dec. 14 meeting; he says Tulsa's not best served by adding chemicals to the water, when it could use a charcoal-based filtration system to filter the water and remove some of the biological material that leads to the problems in the first place.

In fact, Tulsa does use that process -- but only one third of its water supply each year. Each plant uses a different type of charcoal, but Bowcock says it costs quite a bit less than city officials estimated when they were comparing costs of some of the different systems.

Interestingly, both of Tulsa's treatment plants were built with giant ammonia tanks in place, which have sat unused for decades. Now it may be that they'll see service at last -- but not until the concerns of Mautino, Kinney, and Bowcock have at least had a hearing.