Chlorine is a commonly used disinfectant in the treatment of domestic tap water due to chlorine’s competitive market price. Chlorine does an excellent job of disinfecting bacteria, microorganisms, organic matter, inorganic substances, and other harmful chemicals, however not all of the chlorine used in the process is properly filtered out. Some chlorine remains in the treated water that comes out of your home’s taps. We generally ignore the presence of chlorine in our water, considering our water safe enough to drink and use.
So what are the facts about the chlorine in your tap water?
- It can cause irritation in our eyes, nose, respiratory tract, and even cause diseases such as acute lung edema. When the chlorine concentration is high enough it can cause paralysis of the respiratory nerve system. High concentrations of chlorine are dangerous, but even low chlorine concentrations over a long period of time can cause chronic poisoning.
- Chlorine can also enter the human body through our food when we use tap water to wash vegetables, fruits, and grains. Chlorine can destroy the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in our fruits and vegetables. Not only is our body absorbing chlorine through our foods, but it is also destroying the nutrients that our bodies need.
- Using water that contains residual chlorine to shower or bath can also be harmful. Steamy bathrooms create an environment where 40% of chlorine is inhaled into our respiratory system and 30% is absorbed through the skin. The total amount of chlorine absorbed in the bathroom is generally 6 to 8 times the amount consumed from drinking tap water. Resulting in skin irritation and an increased risk of cancer.
- Boiling unfiltered tap water can cause organic matter in the water to produce chloroform and other carcinogens. The amount of chloroform in boiled water is triple the amount found in unboiled tap water. This means that carcinogenic substances within the human body will increase by 3 to 4 times with daily consumption of hot coffee, tea, and other hot beverages.
- Consuming water containing residual chlorine over time may increase the risk of getting heart disease, coronary atherosclerosis, anemia, bladder cancer, liver cancer, rectal cancer, hypertension, allergies, as well as other illnesses.
We cannot change how treatment facilities clean our water, but we can make improvements to the water in our home by investing in water filtration systems such as reverse osmosis systems or the whole house water filtration systems. Filtration systems provide assurance that our family is able to enjoy a safe, healthy water. iSpring’s multi-stage Reverse Osmosis systems were all developed with this promise to our customers in mind: to provide purified water to millions of homes. All of our RO systems have a chloride rejection rate of up to 99%. Apart from under-sink RO systems, most of our whole house water filtration systems also remove chlorine from tap water to give your home even greater protection. Come visit us today at 123filter.com for more product information!
