Chlorine / Chemical Removal
Chlorine in town water
"We are learning the hard way that all the time we thought we were preventing epidemics of one disease‚ we were creating another. Two decades after the start of chlorinating our drinking water the present epidemic of heart trouble and cancer began." - Dr. Joseph M. Price‚ PhD
"'Anyone who has ever swum in a chlorinated pool knows firsthand the harsh effects that chlorine can have on eyes, skin and hair. More serious emerging health concerns linked to these chemicals are "lifeguard lung" and "swimmers asthma," If you regularly swim in chlorinated pools .... read the full article
Chlorine is the most common contaminant that we remove from your water supply. Most people get a Pure Water Services water filter put in to make the water “taste good” which is usually chlorine related. There are also some very serious side effects from chlorinated water and we suggest you discover for yourself what’s in your drinking water supply.
If you don't have a water filter then YOU are the water filter.
Chlorine removal
Yes we can very simply remove chlorine from a single tap in the kitchen up to filtering the whole house. Please ring us now on 0800 787 392 and say I want chlorine free water in my home now!
Personally we have looked at the information and have decided to remove it from the incoming water supply at our homes.
Not sure what to do?
We suggest you do your own research regarding chlorine, however with the overwhelming evidence the choice seems clear to us. As most of NZ drinking water is chlorinated it is up to you if you want your home chlorine free. Its another personal responsibility decision.
Information on Chlorine
Chlorine was first added to a community water system in 1908 in Chicago to remove bacteria and pathogens that cause waterborne disease such as Cholera and Typhoid fever. Prior to chlorination, cities had death tolls of 1 in 1000 people from Typhoid alone. Chlorine has been used to disinfect municipal water for over 100 years and has had positive effects on eradicating Typhoid and other water borne diseases.
In the 1970's it was discovered that chlorine, when added to water, forms Trihalomethanes (chlorinated by-products) by combining with certain naturally occurring organic matter such as vegetation and algae. When looking at your water report be sure to look for trihalomethanes and halo acetic acids, another by-product of chlorination.
In 1992 the American Journal of Public Health published a report that showed a 15% to 35% increase in certain types of cancer for people who consume chlorinated water. This report also stated that much of these effects were due to showering in chlorinated water. Up to half of your chlorine consumption in a day is in the shower (through open skin pores.
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Cancer risks
The National Cancer Institute estimates cancer risks for people who consume chlorinated water to be up to 93% higher than for people who do not. The effects of consuming chlorinated water have been debated for decades. However, most experts now agree that there are some significant risks related to consuming chlorine and chlorinated by-products in drinking water.
"One common factor among women with breast cancer is that they all have 50-60% higher levels of these chlorination by-products (THMs) in their fat tissue than women without breast cancer..." BreastCancerFund.org
"Up to 2/3 of the harmful effects of chlorine are due to inhalation and skin absorption while showering." The American Journal of Public Health
Chlorine, added as an inexpensive and effective drinking water disinfectant, is also a known poison to the body. It is certainly no coincidence that chlorine gas was used with deadly effectiveness as a weapon in the First World War. This gas was known to severely burn the lungs and other body tissues when inhaled; it is no less powerful when ingested by mouth. Each day, as we use unfiltered tap water, we are effectively pouring bleach into our water before we drink it.
It is important to note here that drinking chlorinated the water is not the only way to get THMs into the body. The use of hot water for washing hands and bathing or showering causes THMs to vaporize so that they can be inhaled and then go directly into the bloodstream through the lungs . Showering with chlorinated water is probably the greatest exposure route. The disinfectant byproducts mentioned above occur with minute levels of organic molecules present in the water.
There's no question that our public water supplies must be disinfected, but it's also clear that we need to remove these chemicals before we consume them in our homes.
The good news is that it's easy to do. Call free 0800 787 392.
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More on Chlorine
What happens when you drink chlorinated water, mixing it with saliva and stomach solution that is very rich in nitrogen-containing organic molecules that can react with chlorine? Do any similarly toxic byproducts get formed right in your own stomach?
It turns out that this question was studied in the early 90s. Chlorine isn’t simply oxidized to a chloride ion. It is a very reactive molecule (thus its disinfecting properties) and it does react with molecules in your stomach. Chlorinated water reacted with the various amino acids forming organic chloramines. The toxicity of these compounds isn’t clear, but the above cited results might include not just the effects of disinfection byproducts made at the water treatment plant, but also those made right inside the people drinking the chlorinated water.
When the EPA conducted a 2-year rat and mice study of chlorinated and chloraminated water they found higher incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia in female F344/N rats at mid- and high-dose levels for both:
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Chlorine (leukemia rates: control, 8/50; low-dose, 7/50; mid-dose, 19/51; high-dose, 16/50) and
- Chloramines (leukemia rates: control 8/50; low dose, 11/50; mid dose, 15/50; and high dose, 16/50) .
No other lesions or neoplasms were found that were clearly associated with the drinking water in the male rats or the male or female mice, so this evidence was called “equivocal.” Immune suppression (reduced spleen weights, macrophage activity, and antibody production) was also seen when rats were given drinking water containing chlorine or monochloramine at levels much lower than the EPA 2-year study.
How do these high-dose short-term studies correlate to our experience with chronic low-dose exposures? The cited studies on bladder cancer and colon cancer are part of the answer. Chlorine and chloramine are both highly reactive substances that do not belong in drinking water.
So, the bottom line with chlorine is that it kills germs, but it is a highly reactive chemical that generates potentially carcinogenic compounds in the water or in your body. It needs to be removed from the water before drinking it.
Contact Pure Water Services now about chlorine removal on 0800 787 392 or email us via the form top right of this page.