Do We Need Chlorine in our Water?
Chlorine is a highly efficient disinfectant, and it is added to public water supplies to kill disease-causing bacteria.
The development of cities has in large part been due to chlorination of water. When people live closely together, disease spreads rapidly. Water-borne diseases such as cholera can be massive killers. So chlorine has allowed cities to grow and stay relatively healthy. Where clean water is not readily available, disease is rife.
Haiti suffered a huge earthquake in early 2010 and clean water became a priority. Several months after the earthquake, cholera did indeed spread due to a lack of clean water and sanitation in the refugee camps. Once cholera gets into the water, it is almost impossible to stop. So chlorine prevents problems.
People do object to chlorine in their water, and some say it’s not healthy. In my personal opinion, it is better to have chlorinated water, to prevent water-borne diseases. If you don’t like the taste, smell or have health concerns, you can always remove it in your home or office with a filter – or just allow the water to be in air for a while and the chlorine will naturally dissipate.
Does the taste and quality of water depend upon where you live? Absolutely! Each river and reservoir is different, and each water treatment plant is different. That’s why you need to find out what’s in your specific water before deciding if you want to filter some out.
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My parents would only drink rainwater, we grew up in the country where there was no running tap water.
So when the tap water came through, yes they used it in showers etc. Yet not to drink.
Talking about Chlorine challenges.
Those who did have Chlorine were supposed to have stronger teeth.
Those who didn’t have Chlorine were supposed to have weaker teeth.
I spoke to a water specialist in our local area who knows exactly how pure it is from the tap.
Loved the answer to the questions
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Create a great day!
Rainwater is just the best! It’s hard to believe it’s not so long since there wasn’t piped tap water all over.
The teeth thing might be Fluoride, which is also added to water. It’s a by-product of the aluminium and nuclear industries. No one ever questioned it. But now some people are objecting, saying there’s insufficient evidence that it helps teeth. Some other studies show it does help. Again, it can be removed by a filter if you wish.
Glad you talked to a water specialist who confirmed that tap water is good in your area.
Thanks for your comments!
Thanks for the info on why chlorine is in our drinking water supply. I think the best water I’ve ever drank is in Minnesota. Worst is definitely here in Vegas and in Kansas.
Michael
Worst tap water ever is Chicago. Just my opinion…
I don’t believe that chlorine is healthy at all, and I don’t believe it belongs in our drinking water. Though I do understand why it was originally pumped into it. The good news is that it’s easy to remove, as you’ve mentioned, through filtration. I also love how you talked about putting the water in the refrigerator to dissipate the chlorine. That’s a great suggestion!
Regarding distilled water, it actually is very healthy if it’s remineralized. Same with reverse osmosis. When I drank RO water all the time, I had a mineral concentrate that I used to remineralize every bottle. This is my favorite solution, since you’re actually optimzing the quality of your water.
Cherie Miranda
Thanks for your comments on re-mineralizing Cherie!
I never really thought if there is chlorine in the water that I drink but I do have to say it is better than a disease I cant stop.
Scott Sylvan Bell
We have just had fluoride added to the town water supply after a lot of discussion . Like Annie , a large number of the population use tanks for drinking water and town water for washing etc .
We do filter our drinking water, but I don’t know if the filter works so well that it takes the chlorine out. I don’t have any idea if chlorine is harmful or not, but it seems that even if it is, then it is the lesser of two evils.
I remember being up in Ontario one time as a teenager. I couldn’t believe how delicious the water was. It sounds so silly, but it was true; it tasted so much better than my water at home. Also, when I was pregnant, I couldn’t drink tap water from the next town over. I hated the taste of it.
Lisa McLellan
Hi Lisa, it’s not silly at all, water can definitely taste delicious (or not). That was interesting about your tastes while you were pregnant. Thanks for your comments!
It is amazing to me that we add something to our water to fix one problem and then it causes another problem….is the issue of acid rain still a problem? That rain water is not safe to drink due to pollution in the air?or is that only in certainparts of the world?
Sonya Lenzo
Acid rain – good suggestion for another post – thanks Sonya!
Hi Green Goddess,
Thanks for the reminders that indeed we want some minerals in our water and that having them there is indeed healthy for us. In fact, this is why people have traveled to mineral bath and mineral springs locations, to drink the water for their health because it was deemed to be healthier for us. I think of Jane Austen and all the middle class England visits to Bath, for instance.
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell
My mon is convinced that chlorine cause cancer. She filters all her water and has not bleach in her house. I just look at how caustic bleach is and I have to think that ingesting chlorine can’t be good for you. We filter all our water but still use bleach in our laundry.
In my village in Spain each fountain says: water with no chlorine…I guess in other parts of the world that could be dangerous, but here, for the moment, still means “clean water from the mountain”. I think we are very lucky.
Although I can see why chlorine is somewhat esential the taste does annoy me. I was given distilled water in a science class once and it tasted horrible so I do think the minerals in tap water make it healthier and give it it’s taste. I wouldn’t filter them all out. By the way my fellow Vegasites, Phoenix makes our water taste like champagne.
Hmm…chlorine is definitely a case of trade-offs in my opinion. Trading off the damaging effects of chlorine for the beneficial effects of saving people’s lives due to stopping bacteria and other pathogens. Very good article thanks for your insights.
TKS
I, too, prefer filtered water over plain tap water. I find it tastes much better without the chlorine but my filter only filters out the chemicals at point of use meaning my home. The water is treated by my muncipal water company so it is safe when it gets here.
Thanks for another great discussion.
Dennis
Hi Clare,
This is a nice article explaining the benefits of adding chlorine to the water supply. As far as I can tell, the only thing distilled water is good for is for steam machines (and the like ) so there is no build-up of mineral deposits.
Stay Extraordinary and Do Great Things, Neil
Sounds like it makes sense to have chlorinated water. You can filter if you want to but let it do its job until them to keep up from getting water born illnesses that can be devastating.
Interesting that in Eva’s country they actually state that water has no chlorine.
Jennifer Battaglino
Thanks for clearing that up on Cholera and Chlorine. I didn’t know that was the cause of it in Haiti. Thanks for the all the great info on Tap Water and Water Filters.
Andrew
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