Chlorine in Drinking Water - How You Can Get Rid of It

Numerous scientific studies that have been published over the years starting as early as in the 1960s all seem to agree that chlorine in drinking water can be quite dangerous for your health.

As you probably know, public water authorities have been adding chlorine in tap water to disinfect it by killing disease-causing bacteria. The sad truth, however, is that chlorine has its dark side as well: It has been clearly linked with atherosclerosis (the gradual hardening of the arteries leading to heart diseases and strokes) and cancer.

To be more specific regarding cancer, what is happening is that chlorine in drinking water might combine with organic matter at the stage of chlorination, i.e. before it reaches in our home plumbing system. What are produced from this chemical process are trihalomethanes (THMs for short), or haloforms. These chlorine by-products are known carcinogens.

Now, the percent concentration of these THMs is supposed to be under the close scrutiny of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the government body that sets the standards for drinking water quality. The sad reality is, however, that in several instances this concentration exceeded the set limits.

So, having said the above, what can we do to get rid of chlorine in drinking water (including its by-products), or at least, reduce its concentration?

What I recommend you should get into the habit of doing are the following:

1. Every time you open your tap, always let the water run at full flow for ten seconds, then slow it down to half flow or less. Running at full flow will flush out the pollutants that have grown onto your faucet components and reducing the flow will make it less likely that any other pollutants will be detached later.

2. To be even more reassured, you can always heat your tap water to a rolling boil and keep it there for three to five minutes. However, most people find this measure too impractical and time consuming. What's more, this procedure results in concentrating all the lead is in the water and then it must be refrigerated if it is to be used for drinking.

3. To just remove the taste of chlorine in water, you can do two things. You can keep the water in an uncovered pitcher for several hours to allow the chlorine odor and taste to dissipate, or you can aerate the water in a blender.

Nevertheless, you should agree with me that none of these methods are very effective or practical to implement in the long run.

What I strongly encourage you to do is investigate the option of investing in a high quality water filtration water, like I did. What you have to make sure is to study its performance sheet to ensure that it is effective (at least 95%) at removing both chlorine and its by-products.