Chlorine in Your Water: What to Know
We’ve talked before about all the contaminants that might be lurking in your tap water. Our land and water are polluted with microplastics. Public water systems add fluoride to your drinking water, even though its impact on our health isn’t always good. If you live near livestock, heavy construction, or wildfire zones, you might be exposed to even heavier pollutants.
Maybe you think you’ve got it under control, but here’s the sad (and scary) truth: Refrigerator water filters don’t get the job done, Brita can’t keep up, and even bottled water is bad, if not adequately filtered. In fact, many brands of bottled water are no different than tap water!
In this blog, we’re examining another common contaminant that might be present in your drinking water: chlorine. What is it, why might it be in your water, and what effect could it have on your health? Furthermore, what can you do to ensure you’re not exposed to too much of it?
What is Chlorine?
You’ve probably heard of chlorine since it’s commonly added to pools. It has a very distinct smell, one which you can normally detect before ever dipping a toe in the water.
Chlorine is a chemical. In fact, it’s one of the top-10 highest volume chemicals that the United States manufactures. In addition to pools, you’ve likely seen it (or smelled it) in your cleaning products, like bleach, which is chlorine dissolved in water. This is because it helps to disinfect and sanitize.
You can also find chlorine in pesticides, synthetic rubbers, and refrigerants.
Why Would There Be Chlorine in Tap Water?
If chlorine is used in pools, pesticides, and cleaning products, what on earth is it doing in your drinking water?
In public systems, water sometimes has to travel for miles and miles before it comes out of your tap. That plumbing can get dirty, so water companies add a disinfectant to the water — either chlorine or chloramine — to kill germs that can cause diseases like salmonella, norovirus, and campylobacter. It’s not unlike how chlorine is added to a pool to keep the water clean (or rather, clean enough to safely swim in).
So, to a degree, chlorine in tap water can be a good thing because it prevents you from getting waterborne diseases.
But what if there’s too much chlorine in your drinking water?
Ideally, there’s so little chlorine in your water that you can’t detect it — that means there’s no smell, taste, or appearance (chlorine can make the water cloudy). However, there are a few things that indicate there might be too much:
- Your skin, hair, or eyes become dry, irritated, or itchy. (This is why, after swimming in a pool, you might notice that your skin and hair are dried out.)
- Your nails are brittle.
- Your clothes look stained or faded. (Remember, chlorine is used to make bleach, which can leave light stains on your clothes.)
What Health Risks Are Associated With Ingesting Too Much Chlorine?
It’s not just your clothes and skin that take a beating if you get too much chlorine in your tap water.
Inhaling chlorine can hurt your skin, eyes, and airway, leading to coughing and a sore throat. If you’re exposed to higher levels, you can experience tightness of the chest, wheezing, shortness of breath, and bronchospasm (when the airways contract, making it harder to breathe). Extreme exposure can lead to fluid buildup in the lungs.
The scariest part is that if there’s chlorine in your water, your nose will eventually become immune to it, meaning that you’ll no longer be able to smell it.
Furthermore, ingesting chlorine can, over time, damage the tissue of the gastrointestinal tract. Chlorine can also interact with water and minerals to produce chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs), which have been linked to bladder, colon and, and rectal cancer.
So, do you need some chlorine in your tap water? It can offer certain benefits. However, too much of it can make you sick and many areas in the country have water with chlorine that far exceeds recommended health guidelines.
How to Get the Best of Both Worlds
In an ideal situation, the chlorine added to your water does its job. It kills the dangerous germs that can make you ill. But then, the chlorine is removed so that it can’t cause any adverse health problems.
This is where water purification comes into play — specifically, reverse osmosis (water) filtration.
Reverse osmosis is the most advanced water purification technology that science has devised so far. Think of the screen on your window. Now imagine that built into your home water system. Then, imagine that the holes in the screen are so small that only one thing can squeeze through it: water molecules!
All of the contaminants, like forever chemicals and lead, don’t stand a chance.
This is how Sans does water purification. We combine it with UV-C light to further neutralize pathogens that can make you sick, like viruses and bacteria. What this means is that ultimately, the Sans water purifier eliminates up to 99% of contaminants, including heavy metals and arsenic.
Other Features of the Sans Water Purifier
Sans is incredibly user-friendly, with no installation required. The countertop design is both sleek and easily transportable. It can instantly dispense hot water and auto-refills, so you always have fresh, filtered water on hand. Plus, the pitcher is removable, so you can take it with you throughout the home and office. The water quality display gives you real-time updates, so you always have peace of mind about the cleanliness of your drinking water.
If you’re concerned about chlorine or any other contaminants in your water, having a reliable purifier in your home is crucial. While public water systems are supposed to test your drinking water and maintain its safety levels, there’s never any real guarantee that what’s coming out of your tap is safe.
Take control of your water safety with a Sans water purifier.