Mecklenburg County health officials say the new chlorine system at the U.S. National Whitewater Center is working like it's supposed to so far. The center installed the new system to address a microorganism linked to a young woman's death after she rafted there in June.
The Whitewater Center closed its rafting channel for more than a month after the death. CDC tests confirmed the presence of what's best known as the brain-eating ameba. It's actually a common organism in warm lakes and rivers. But in extremely rare cases, it can cause a deadly brain infection.
Chlorine at high enough levels can kill it. So the center installed a new system to more effectively chlorinate the water, in addition to the UV radiation and filtration system it already used.
The county has been monitoring it since the rafting channel reopened last week. A county spokesman says chlorine levels have been within the target range. Health officials will keep doing weekly tests the rest of this month. If they continue showing appropriate levels, they'll switch to testing every other week in September.
