The Truth About Chlorine in Drinking Water!

Chlorine in drinking water seems so normal. After all, chlorinated water is good, isn’t it? Chlorine kills bacteria and viruses that would otherwise make thousands, maybe even millions of people sick. But it’s not only chlorine that we need to get out of our water, there are other drugs found in drinking water whose long term effect on our health is completely unknown.

Before we started treating our water with chlorine, thousands of people died from diseases like cholera. In parts of the world where water treatment is suspect, cholera and other waterborne diseases can still be a problem. So, chlorine has bettered our public health.

There has been a cost, however. Some scientists even link chlorine and all the other drugs found in drinking water with everything from increased cancer rates to increased rates of birth defects.

Part of the problem with chlorine is it can form compounds called trihalomethanes when it’s exposed to organic material. Trihalomethanes are thought to be carcinogens. A possible solution is to substitute chloramine for chlorine. There are a few problems with this, though. Chloramine is not as strong an oxidant as chlorine. Also, it can form deposits on pipe walls. Not to mention the millions of dollars it would cost our municipal water systems to convert from using chlorine to chloramine.

Of course converting to cloramine would help with the problem of chlorine in drinking water, but it would do nothing for other drugs found in drinking water. So, we actually need another type of solution to the problem of chlorine and other drugs being in the water we drink.

Bottled water is an idea, but there are problems with bottled water, too. For instance, there are fewer federal regulations covering bottled water than there are for tap water. If your bottled water is not transported across state lines (true for about 70% of the time), then federal regulations don’t even apply!

The only real solution to the problem of chlorine in drinking water is to filter your own water right in your own home. There are some really good water filtering systems on the market. For about $100 you can get a state of the art water filter that you connect right to your faucet. A good water filter would, of course, address the problem of other drugs found in drinking water.

The only issue now is what type of water filter to get. There are several popular methods of purifying water such as distillation, ultraviolet, reverse osmosis, and carbon and ceramic filtration. What you need now is an informative website where you can learn more about this important health issue.

By:R. Lee Cole