HWN Suggests

Use of a Water Disinfectant Is Challenged

Chloramine has been used to treat drinking water for decades. Its use skyrocketed after the federal Environmental Protection Agency placed stricter limits in 1998 and 2006 on 11 disinfection byproducts. Most, such as chloroform, are created when chlorine interacts with naturally occurring organic material in rivers and other water sources, and some are considered probable human carcinogens.

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Featured

 Dangers of Mixing Bleach with Cleaners

When bleach is mixed with ammonia, toxic gases called chloramines are produced. In addition to using ammonia as a cleaning product, ammonia can be found in some glass and window cleaners, interior and exterior paints, and in urine (use caution when cleaning litter boxes, diaper pails, or toilet bowls). Sodium Hypochlorite is the active ingredient in chlorine bleach. It is found in household bleach and many other disinfectants. Sodium hypochlorite reacts with ammonia, drain cleaners, and other acids. Many household products state that they contain bleach on the label.

 How to Remove Chloramines from Water

Chloramines are heralded for their ability to keep public drinking water safe, but unfortunately, they have some nasty side effects. From skin and eye irritation to a sharp chemical taste, chloramines can leave you with bloodshot eyes after a shower and ruin the taste of your drinking water. Unfortunately, chloramines are much trickier to remove from water than free chlorine. A standard carbon filter won’t remove chloramines alone. Instead, a more comprehensive water filtration system like reverse osmosis or a catalytic carbon filter is required. However, after the water is disinfected, both chlorine and chloramines have a string of undesirable side effects. They are notorious for aggravating skin conditions, ruining the taste of drinking water, and can even degrade rubbers and corrode metal pipes. So, while they serve an integral purpose in keeping water safe and clean, there’s no reason to leave them in the water once they’ve served their purpose.

Articles of Interest

What’s In Your Water? Chloramine.

Drinking water disinfection is among the most important technological advances of humanity, yet like every major historic development it has a downside. Today, we run the risk of over-ingesting the disinfection chemicals used in public water treatment, along with their dangerous disinfection bi-products.

A Quest for Even Safer Drinking Water

Nicholas Ashbolt, a microbiologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, says pathogens exist at greater concentrations in water supply systems with more chlorine, not less, and especially with another chlorine-based treatment chloramine.

All's Well? Is Chlorine the Best Option for Purifying Drinking Water?

Although adding small amounts of chlorine to drinking water is considered safe by the EPA, healthier and more environmentally sound alternatives exist

Chlorine Substitutes In Water May Have Risks

"It wasn't until about the 1970s that we started to realize that chlorine had some unintended consequences," he says. "And one of the biggest unintended consequences of adding chlorine to water was that it reacts with some of the organic matter in the water to produce carcinogenic byproducts." These byproducts didn't pose a big risk. Even so, the Environmental Protection Agency thought water systems could do better.

Here’s What Gives Pools That Chlorine-y Smell (Spoiler: It’s Gross)

When nitrogen mixes with the chlorine in the pool, chemical irritants called chloraminesare formed, which is problematic for two reasons...

Protection or Poison? Chloramination of Drinking Water

Water utilities across the country are changing the way they treat our drinking water. They’re switching from chlorine, the primary disinfectant used in drinking water systems for over a hundred years, to the alternative disinfectant chloramine at an alarming rate. But are they making a sound, informed decision? What are the health effects? Where are the studies to help us understand the impacts to our health and infrastructure?

Why that ‘clean swimming pool’ smell is actually bad for your health

It’s recently been reported that scientists have managed to create a test to measure how much urine is in a swimming pool. It seems that peeing in the pool has become commonplace, and even high-profile swimmers have admitted to doing it during rigorous training sessions, arguing that the chlorine “kills it”. Not only is this untrue, but the chemical reaction that occurs between your pee and the chlorine creates a chemical that has been linked to asthma and other respiratory issues. Nitrogen trichloride, also known as trichloramine, is made when the urea in your pee reacts with chlorine – the disinfectant widely used in swimming pool water. Nitrogen trichloride is largely made by accident in pools these days, but this compound was originally made for interest in 1812 by Pierre Louis DuLong.

Resources

Citizens Concerned About Chloramine

Citizens Concerned About Chloramine (CCAC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise the public's level of awareness about chloramine and its health effects when used as a disinfectant in the water.

CDC

Chloramination is the process of adding chloramine to drinking water to disinfect it and kill germs. Chloramination is sometimes used as an alternative to chlorination. Chloramines are a group of chemical compounds that contain chlorine and ammonia. The particular type of chloramine used in drinking water disinfection is called monochloramine. Monochloramine is mixed into water in levels that kill germs but are still safe to drink.