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Chlorine or Chloramines?

Clean clear and pathogen free drinking water or essential to everyone’s well-being and our economic stability. We must disinfect our drinking water. There are many ways to go about doing such. Economic feasibility Is the driving force behind many political decisions including health-based decisions on municipal drinking water.

There is an infinite number of water chemistry combinations in different parts of the country.

Hot and arid climate have a much more difficult time keeping a concentration of chlorine in the water dissipates quicker hotter climate. With the ever-growing population and new developments in cities stretching the boundaries further and further away from the distribution system more chlorine concentration is required for the furthest homes. This means people closest to the treatment facility are getting much heavier chlorine concentration. Chloramines help alleviate this unbalanced concentration Of chlorine.

Chlorimine is usually a secondary treatment after chlorine disinfects. Chloramines are added last in the treatment tree. Their job is to stay in the pipes and inhibit bacterial growth.

It took decades for scientists to identify a large number of disinfection by products and sharing with organic matter and chlorine. Manny want to say that Chloramines don’t pose the same danger of disinfection by-products as chlorine. The University of Indiana reported disinfection Byproduct Chloramines that they called the most toxic disinfection byproduct they’ve ever tested. Nitrosamines are fairly toxic and associated with chlorimines. Chloramines don’t have studies to validate these type of claims.

Chloramines are much less likely to break down in the distribution system but this also means they are tough to remove as the compound must be broken down before it can be filtered.

When chloramine does break down, it releases ammonia into the water. This in turn increases bacterial growth which subsequently reduces the pH of the water, making it more acidic/corrosive. As a result, chloraminated water can cause faster corrosion of plumbing both in the municipal distribution system and in homes.

With regards to physical health, excessive chloramine ingestion can damage the digestive system, while chloramine fumes in water can cause respiratory issues, and physical exposure can irritate the skin. Unfortunately, there is little data from the EPA regarding skin or inhalation exposure to chloramine, and inadequate studies in general as to the health effects of chloramine. Currently, chloramine falls under NSF/ANSI Standard 42, as an aesthetic water contaminant.

But as this says on the NSF website,

“Note that a filter won’t need to reduce or remove both chlorine and chloramines in order to be NSF 42 certified.

You might read a filter that’s advertised to be “certified to NSF standard 42 for chlorine reduction”. In that case, you know that the filter offers an expected level of performance when it comes to reducing chlorine, but that doesn’t mean it can remove chloramines.

Chlorine is and has been the standard sanitizer for all municipal water treatment systems since the 1920s. In more recent times, however, chloramines have begun to see more frequent usage. Chloramines are a combination of chlorine AND ammonia and, as such, require different filtration for removal or reduction. It is first necessary to break the bond between the ammonia and chlorine so that each chemical can then be removed in its separate state. As no such bond exists with chlorine, it is an easier task to simply remove or reduce chlorine as a lone entity.

The reason that use of chloramines is on the increase is that chloramines have a longer shelf life than chlorine. This means they will last longer before dissipating. In municipalities in hot climates with long water-distribution systems, chlorine might evaporate before it reaches the last house on the line unless large amounts of chlorine are used at the treatment plant. This can run into considerable expense and expose those living close to the treatment plant to high levels of chlorine. To reduce the amount of chlorine needed, chloramines are substituted. Because chloramines last longer, less chlorine is required at the treatment plant while still being able to have a residual sanitizer in the distribution lines at the last house.

If you are unsure what your municipality uses, call your water treatment department and ask if they use only chlorine or if they create chloramines. Chloramine use is more prevalent in large cities in hot climates.

What is chloramine?

Chloramine is a chemical compound that combines chlorine with ammonia to create a more stable, less volatile water disinfectant.

How widespread is chloramine use in tap water?

For many decades, most municipalities across the United States have utilized chlorine to treat tap water for the presence of bacteria and other organic contaminants. Within the last decade, the trend to use chloramine – either as a replacement or in conjunction with chlorine – as a tap water disinfectant has rapidly increased among municipalities, and the EPA estimates that at least 1 in 5 Americans use drinking water treated with chloramines.* More recent research suggests that up to 45% of Americans are served by public water supplies utilizing chloramine.**

Why do I need a special chloramine filter?

While most activated carbon filters will treat chlorine in tap water, chloramine requires a specific carbon formulation for treatment. Generally, very few carbon filters are designed to address the presence of chloramine in tap water.

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With regards to physical health, excessive chloramine ingestion can damage the digestive system, while chloramine fumes in water can cause respiratory issues, and physical exposure can irritate the skin. Unfortunately, there is little data from the EPA regarding skin or inhalation exposure to chloramine, and inadequate studies in general as to the health effects of chloramine. Currently, chloramine falls under NSF/ANSI Standard 42, as an aesthetic water contaminant.