Ever wondered how clean your water is? Are you worried about contaminants and hazardous organisms in your drinking water?
Tap water has a lot of contaminants on it. In 2015 alone, there are more than 80,000 reports of violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. That means more than 77 million Americans received water from these errant systems.
One of the chemicals found in the water is Chloramine. If you want to know how to remove chloramine from water, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the things you need to know about it:
What are Chloramines?
At its core, chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia. It’s an alternative means of purifying city water when chlorine itself isn’t available. Around 22% of the metropolitan water treatment facilities use the substance for purification.
However, a lot of municipalities now discontinue using chloramines. They switch to chlorine due to the fact that it’s more stable despite being a weaker disinfectant. Another thing you need to consider is that chloramines stay in the water for longer periods of time compared to chlorine.
Do You Really Need to Remove Chloramines?
The answer is that it depends upon a lot of different factors. After all, the reaction between ammonia and chlorine can produce three different types of chloramines. These are:
- Monochloramine
- Dichloramine
- Trichloramine
All but monochloramine have a bit of instability. That means they’re gone from the water before they even reach your home. The treated water that gets to your tap often contains monochloramine and some free chlorine.
The level of the remaining chloramine in your tap water varies. If your water has a plastic-like taste of chlorophenols, you might want to start considering chloramine filtration. Get someone to taste your water if you’re not that sure about how your water tastes like.
Is Chloramine Dangerous?
There is a lot of research involved in ascertaining the effects of chlorine and chloramine to your health. It’s especially relevant considering the fact that water treatment facilities add it to the water you’re drinking. The short answer is that these chemicals won’t pose any significant health risk if they’re maintained at small levels.
Of course, these chemicals disinfect the water you consume from the more dangerous contaminants around. However, that fact shouldn’t give you the incentive to drink water straight out of the faucet in under any circumstances. It’s always safer for you to have the means of cutting out this chemical from your potable water.
Here are some other issues about chloramine in water:
Monochloramine is Hazardous
Chlorine and ammonia often mix to produce this chemical. It’s a type of nerve gas that’s irritating to your skin and mucous layers. Low levels of this compound isn’t an issue–but you can never risk it.
Chloramine Doesn’t Disperse
When chlorinated water sits for half an hour, it disperses. As for its chloramine counterpart, it instead leaves behind a mix of VOCs and other poisonous byproducts. When you shower, both chlorine and chloramine get discharged into the air, causing your lungs, throat, and eyes to become irritated.
Chloramine has Health Issues
A lot of health professionals associate chloramine with various health conditions. Often, people experience skin irritation and gastrointestinal issues when exposed to it. If you shower and bathe in unfiltered water, you’re at risk for dermal conditions like inflammation and psoriasis.
Chloramine Can Be Cancerous
There’s a potential side effect to chloramine consumption. These are nitrodimethylamines (NDMAs), which can be more cancerous compared to nitrates and nitrites. It can even damage your genetic structure.
Chloramine Stays in the Water
Most conventional water treatment systems can’t remove chloramines. Filters like sink connection appliances and the like won’t be enough to filter out this substance. It needs a great means of filtration.
Chloramine removes pathogens by disrupting the metabolic processes of these hazards. However, it’s slower to react, making it impossible to evaporate in water. That’s why it’s important to get a powerful filter if you want to ensure that the chloramine removal will stay successful.
Chloramine Effects on Human Health
Depending on the level found in the water, ingesting chloramine can cause some health issues. Here are some:
Immune System Issues
Chloramine isn’t enough to kill the more insidious pathogens found in tap water. What this means is that you need to boil your water for more than ten minutes before drinking it. It’s especially important if your immune system is down since you’ll end up sick if you neglect to do this every time.
The risk of getting sick due to water contaminants increases for toddlers, old people, and the people undergoing chemotherapy. As long as you’re suffering from a compromised immune system, you can’t rely on chloramine to remove these harmful substances.
Respiratory Issues
Chloramine can cause and worsen problems in the respiratory system. In its vaporous form, chloramine can cause you to have these symptoms:
- Sniffling
- Sinus blockage
- Shortness of Breath
- Asthma
The reason why chloramine worsens asthma is due to the fact that it’s harmful to mucous layers. It can enter the respiratory tract and the circulatory system. The damage chloramine does to your lungs render it defenseless against the worst allergens and contaminants.
Skin Issues
When your skin gets in contact with chlorinated tap water, it might cause rashes, dryness, itching, and bleeding. If you’re suffering from dermatitis and psoriasis, chloramine can worsen these conditions. It’s a substance that can strip water from your skin cells and harms the tissues.
Kidney and Blood Issues
If you’re suffering from liver or kidney illnesses, you’re more at risk for ammonia toxicity due to the chlorinated water. Those undergoing kidney dialysis treatments can’t drink water with chloramine because it causes hemolytic anemia. Chloramine needs total removal from the water of kidney dialysis patients with the use of reverse osmosis to prevent this.
Stomach and Gastric Issues
As said before, chloramine damages mucous membranes. This also applies to the mucosa related to your stomach. If you have stomach problems such as gastritis and ulcer, drinking water with chloramine can make your problem worse.
Monochloramine is often thought of as the main reason for gastric tumors. If you don’t want to increase your chances of getting gastric cancer, you need a water filter to remove chlorine and chloramine.
How to Dechlorinate Water
It’s not enough to wait for chlorine and chloramine to evaporate from tap water. It takes a long time and it has the potential to form harmful byproducts. You need other forms of removal and neutralization to ensure that you can purify the water no matter how much you need.
Also, you need to ensure that the system has a National Sanitation Foundation accreditation. Here are some of the systems you can use:
Reverse Osmosis
This is the most common option when it comes to removing chloramine. The reason behind it is that it leaves the water with almost no dissolved solid particles. You need it if you want to neutralize chloramine inside your entire house.
Using reverse osmosis is also effective in removing other harmful byproducts produced by chlorine and chloramine. It can even remove heavy metals that might be present in your water supply.
Ultraviolet Light
UV light is another great option if you want an effective chloramine removal filter. It also helps in killing germs and other microbes. A lot of reverse osmosis systems use UV lights as a means of pre-filtering the water.
As a part of the RO system, UV light protects its membrane from bacteria and chloramine.
Activated and Catalytic Carbon
If you want a more portable means of filtering chloramine from water, you can get a pitcher that uses activated carbon. This helps the number of contaminants and makes the taste and smell of water much better. To remove chlorine and chloramine completely, you need to filter the water for longer periods of times.
For that, the Catalytic Carbon is a more effective option to remove chloramine and chlorine. It’s an advanced version of the activated carbon since it can accomplish the job faster.
There’s a way for your entire house to have either activated or catalytic carbon filtration systems. Using both the filters to neutralize small amounts of water can help achieve its highest level of purity.
Learn How to Remove Chloramine from Water Today!
If you want to be cautious, you need to reduce or remove chloramine from your drinking water to avoid the possible health issues stated above.
If you want to get the most out of your filter, make sure it’s certified by official governing bodies like the NSF. That way, you’re assured that it has high quality and it won’t put your health at risk. Depending on your home, your choice of water filter can differ.
Do you need water filters for your home? Looking for more tips on how to remove chloramine from water? Browse our shop and check our wide selection of water filters, allowing you to search for the best ones according to type and brand that suits your needs.
