NEW YORK—Louisiana municipalities are increasing chlorine levelsin public water systems to combat a brain-eating amoeba responsiblefor causing three deaths in 2013, including that of a four-year-oldboy.

Federal health official indicated the organism, NaegleriaFowleri, was living in water supply test sites in the DeSoto andthe St. Bernard Parishes. Although the amoeba-contaminated water issafe to drink, if forced into the nose—by diving into a pool orother sites of warm, still water where the amoeba thrives—it cantravel to the brain via the olfactory nerve and causeencephalitis.

A spokeswoman for the DeSoto waterworks system, which servicesnearly 5,000 customers, told Accuweather that the district isunaware of how the amoeba entered into the public utility'sinfrastructure, although more than 1,000 breaks in the system'slines were repaired after Hurricane Katrina.

Gene Devine, senior vice president of Arthur J. Gallagher RiskManagement Services, Inc, said at the law firm's AnnualPolicyholder Advisor Conference held here yesterday that the amoebacould pose a product liability exposure to the water districtselling its services to the parish.

Anderson Kill attorney John Nevius added, “Pollution exclusionshave been extended on microbial transmissions since the SARS virusoutbreak. It's up to the district's risk manager to work with abroker to tailor the coverage language so it doesn't precludeinjury to customers caused by microbial or other infections.”

Since the infiltration was discovered, La. health officialsadvised 82 of the state's water systems to step up their chlorinedisinfection strategies to kill the organism by increasing residuallevels of the chemical to 0.5 milligrams per liter throughout theirdistribution lines. The DeSoto parish, which began a free chlorineburn on Thursday, said the burn will last two months after thewater system reaches the required chlorine level.

Nevius warned the chlorine burn itself could pose a liabilityissue. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), thedisinfectant can react with naturally-occurring materials in waterto form byproducts such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids,which are harmful to humans.

He cited a situation that arose in Virginia when a municipalwater supply syndicate was held responsible for raising chlorinelevels above the EPA's recommended level—a maximum of fourmilligrams per liter.

According to Nevius, although chlorine levels of water are heldat an average of 100 parts per million, an occasional spike doesnot disturb the running average. Thus, it is acceptable tooccasionally raise chlorine levels in a public water system as adisinfection strategy.

However, the case raised by a group of pregnant women in theVirginia town argued that even an occasional increase in chlorinelevels could harm residents' health.

“It didn't matter that the byproducts were caused by a naturalphenomenon—organic material produced by leaves that had fallen intothe sewers—or that the chlorine was added to protect human health,”said Nevius. Furthermore, “Virginia's Supreme Court ruled thatchlorine byproduct pollution was a policy exclusion,” and so thetown was on the hook for the loss.

Article has been corrected to state Gene Devine's title asSVP, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc., not anAnderson Kill shareholder.