In a US Council for Environmental Quality study, it has been reported that the risk of getting cancer is 93 times higher for those who consume chlorinated water than those who do not. Chlorinated water, though free of bacterial elements, has been closely linked to bladder, rectal and breast cancer. Lenntech.com reports that there was a rise in health complaints of swimming pool attendants. Research also shows that several employees of swimming pools suffer from forgetfulness, fatigue, chronic colds, voice problems, eye irritations, headache, sore throat, eczema and frontal sinus inflammation. If swimmers and pool attendants stop working around pools then the health problems vanish. During exercise their physical effort is large. They inhale air and absorb the chlorine products. Many competitive swimmers suffer from asthma as lung functions of swimmers decrease when they are swimming in pools that are disinfected by chlorine.
Ok, but we are not talking about swimming pools, we are talking about tap water in your home you might be thinking. So what’s the problem? If you look at the EPA website you will see that we have a Safe Drinking Water Act. This law requires the EPA to determine the level of residual disinfectants, (chlorine), in drinking water at which no adverse health effects are likely to occur. These non-enforceable health goals, based solely on possible health risks and exposure over a lifetime, with an adequate margin of safety, are called maximum residual disinfectant level goals (MRDLG). The EPA has set the maximum allowable level of chlorine to be 4.0 parts per million, (ppm). Parts per million means that if you put one million drops of water separately on any surface, four of those drops would be pure chlorine.
I live in a major city in north central Texas which in 2009, (as they are required), posted their city water facts. They stated that the city water ranged during 2009 from 1ppm to 4.3ppm. If the EPA declared that levels above 4ppm will breach the “margin of safety”, then on what day was the chlorine levels above 4.0 and who drank or showered (including myself) in this potentially toxic water? All of the chlorine effects I listed are from research in swimming pools. You might ask, “isn’t the chlorine level in my pool much higher than my city water?” No. Actually your swimming pool water can be equal to or lower in terms of ppm than your city tap water. The reason you smell chlorine so strongly around a pool is because it has had a chance to change in to a gas in the air around the pool. According to several swimming pool websites I researched, free available chlorine (FAC), must be within a range of 2 – 4 ppm.Remember the EPA maximum level for your home is 4.0.
Whether you drink it via a glass of water or inhale it when you have a hot shower, chlorinated water can affect you. Don’t think you are off the hook if you drink bottled water. You take showers don’t you? Chlorine can seep through the skin or can be inhaled when it turns to steam in a hot shower. Some scientist claim inhaling chlorine is more dangerous than drinking it via a glass of water. As a matter of fact, the EPA found that there are elevated amounts of chloroform in almost every American household due to the use of chlorinated water.
Where are you using tap water? Are you drinking chlorinated water? Are you bathing yourself, your children or cooking your food in it? The answer lies in carbon filtration. Granular activated carbon has a large surface area for collection of chlorine from your water. Better yet, coconut shell granulated activated carbon has been found to be a premium carbon for residential or commercial drinking water treatment applications. 1 cu.ft. of Coconut Shell carbon performs better than standard carbon “charcoal” filtering media in removing chlorine and Volatile Organic Compounds. The most common application for an activated carbon is to remove unpleasant taste such as taste of chlorine from drinking water. There are answers to chlorine and you don’t have to settle for adding any more toxins into your body than you already do on a daily basis. There are many inexpensive ways to remove chlorine from your water source. You can start with a simple pitcher type filter, under sink filter, shower filter, or if you even a carbon media tank to remove the chlorine from every tap in your home.