How Your City Adds Chloramines to Your Tap Water

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How Your City Adds Chloramines to Your Tap Water

 

 

 

By Richard Mesquita, AquaMD

 

(AquaMD is the water testing division of the American Water Council, a

nationally respected provider of water education and testing services.

AquaMD has teamed with Dr. Mercola to provide you both the free home

water evaluation and the Dr. Mercola water testing packages at

http://www.aquamd.com/mercola/labtests.)

 

Recently, two unrelated children ages 2 and 4, living in Greenville,

N.C., were found to have extremely high levels of lead in their blood.

One child had lead levels in his blood that were 200 percent higher

than the medical safety standard. And the other child's lead level was

about 150 percent higher than the so-called safe limit.

 

What were these children exposed to that caused them to absorb so much

lead into their bodies? All signs point to the public water supply!

 

It turns out the water company's water was leaching lead from lead

solder used to connect water pipes in the homes' plumbing systems.

 

In fact, the tap water tested at the home of one of these children

contained lead levels of 400 parts per billion (ppb). To put that

number in perspective, even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

says lead levels in water exceeding 15 ppb are very dangerous and must

be acted upon.

 

The local water company's own water tests also showed 25 percent of

all samples collected at various homes in their coverage area were

contaminated with lead at levels starting at 15 ppb, if not more. No

doubt, many more water samples showed levels of lead that were also

dangerous, but since they were below the EPA's action level, the water

utility did not have to report them.

 

How did Lead Leach Into the Water Supply?

 

The water company started treating the public water supply with

chloramines. Chloramines are formed by combining chlorine and small

amounts of ammonia. That combination yields three known varieties:

 

* Monochloramine

* Dichloramine

* Trichloramine

 

Chloramines eat away at the lead contained in the solder used to

connect pipes, as well as actual lead service lines, and deposits lead

into the water supply. So why did this North Carolina water company

start adding chloramines to the public water supply in the first place?

 

Believe it or not, they did it to reduce the levels of harmful

trihalomethanes (TTHMs) they were finding in their water. As you may

recall, TTHMs are types of disinfection byproducts that have been

linked to liver, kidney and central nervous system damage as well as

cancer. They are very widespread in public water supplies.

 

The water company could have selected another water treatment option

that would have reduced TTHMs in the water supply and kept it

bacteria-free, but adding chloramines to the water was the low-cost

option.

 

Adding chloramines to the public water supply isn't limited to this

North Carolina water company either. More and more, water companies

across the United States have switched to chloramines in an attempt to

keep bacteria from growing in their water. In fact, 25 percent of

water companies now use them as their primary disinfection chemical of

choice.

 

Just so you know, reports of high lead levels in public water supplies

aren't limited to North Carolina. Within the past year, the water

company serving the Washington, D.C. area switched to chloramines and

soon found lead levels 3,200 times greater than the EPA's action

level. Things were so bad, according to the Washington Post, the water

company withheld reporting some of their water test results and simply

told their customers their water was fine.

 

That same newspaper reported, " Cities across the country are

manipulating the results of tests used to detect lead in water,

violating federal law, and putting millions of Americans at risk. "

 

Health Effects of Chloramines

 

The lead that is leached into the water supply by chloramines has been

linked to kidney damage, miscarriages, nervous system damage, anemia,

high blood pressure, brain damage and reproductive difficulties, as

well as learning and behavioral problems in children. Plus,

chloramines leach copper into public water supplies. And long-term

exposure to high levels of copper can cause liver damage, kidney

damage, headaches, stomach problems and dizziness, among others.

 

In addition, scientists have discovered chloramines can create their

own disinfection byproducts, such as N-nitrosodimethylamine. And this

specific disinfection byproduct is a human carcinogen.

 

Some research links chloramines to bladder cancer. It's also believed

the ammonia used to create chloramines in water can cause nitrate

levels to rise and hurt young children.

 

Can Chloramines be Removed From the Water?

 

Chloramines are very difficult to remove from water by using

reverse-osmosis systems or water softeners. Distilling water also

won't remove them. But they can typically be removed with the right

granular-activated carbon filter.

 

The problem: Public water supplies typically also contain other toxic

substances that may not be removed by granular-activated carbon. No

water filter exists that treats all problems.

That's why you should find out which toxins are in your water, then

install the right treatment system to deal with your specific problem.

 

I also encourage you to meet with your health practitioner to reverse

any damage these contaminants may have done to your health.