To ensure quality of life, the water supplied for the public's homes are treated and disinfected. Chlorinated disinfectants are used to treat the water which  prevents the spread of water borne diseases. Chlorinated water is also effective against viruses and bacteria.

 

The process of chlorine disinfection  

 

     Chlorine kills pathogens such as bacteria and viruses by breaking the chemical bonds in their molecules. These disinfectants consist of chlorine compounds which can exchange atoms with other compounds, such as enzymes in bacteria and other cells. When enzymes come in contact with chlorine, one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule are replaced by chlorine. This causes the entire molecule to change shape or fall apart. When enzymes do not function properly, a cell or bacterium will die.

 

     When chlorine is added to water, underchloric acids form. The cell wall of pathogenic microorganisms is negatively charged by nature. Therefore, it can be penetrated by the neutral underchloric acid.  Underchloric acid can penetrate slime layers, cell walls and protective layers of microorganisms and effectively kills pathogens as a result. The microorganisms will either die or suffer from reproductive failure.

 

 

 

 

Its toxicity in water 

 

     Although the chlorinated disinfectants are very helpful, they can turn hazardous too. If the chlorine reacts with the organic compounds found in water during the disinfection process, disinfection byproducts (DPBs) are produced. Some disinfection byproducts produced can be dangerous cancer causing compounds named MX, which stands for “Unknown Mutagen” or THMs (trihalomethanes). More about trihalomethanes here.

 

     The THMs produced may have adverse health effects at high concentrations, and many governments set limits on the amount permissible in drinking water. In Canada, the total concentration of chloroform, bromoform, bromodichloromethane and dibromochloromethane is limited to 100 micrograms per litre in treated water. This number is called "total trihalomethanes" (TTHM).

 

Trihalomethanes

 

     Laboratory studies in 1997, Finland showed that MX may cause damage to thyroid glands and cause cancerous tumors. It is also determined that that MX is 170 times more deadly than any other toxic by-products of chlorination. 

 

Thyroid disorders?  

 

     Chlorine, flourine, and fluoride are chemically related to iodine, and compete with it, blocking iodine receptors in the thyroid gland. Dioxin, a dangerous chlorine related compound found throughout the food chain, is one cause of low thyroid.

        

 

 

 Its toxicity in food and drugs 

 

     Another cause of low thyriod may occur when chlorinated drinking water mixes with the natural chemical compounds of plants. These micronutrients in plants are alterted by chlorine and they may be turned in to mutagens which may do permanent damage to the thyroid glands.  

 

     Clearly, it is not only water that may cause toxins with chlorinated water; foods that we eat react with the chlorinated tap water as well. These foods consists of fresh fruits, vegetables, tea, vitamins and even some pharmaceutical drugs. Due to the fact that chlorine may mutate the phytochemicals in plants, it may also result in damaging the body's immune system. 

 

     Although chlorine has essentially eliminated the risks of waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery, there are many pathogens that are not controlled by chlorine.  Better methods of water treatment exist, such as ozonation, and many alternatives are already used throughout the world.

 

 

 

 Remove The Chlorine From Tap Water Before Drinking

 

 

 

 

 

What can we do to reduce chlorine from our lives?

 

• Drink only filtered or distilled water.
• Use filters in faucets and shower heads.
• Use a chlorine filter or a reverse osmosis filter to remove chlorine and other harmful disinfectants from our drinking water.
• Don't bathe in chlorinated water.
• Install large water filters right on the water line entering houses
• Use water testing kits to see if any sample or drink is chlorine free.
• Take supplements of fulvic acid

 

Why fulvic acid?  

 

     Fulvic acid may be used to detoxify existing toxins by flushing out the chlorine from the body. They detoxify the body, the liver and the digestive tract by attaching to toxic build-up, including heavy metals, chlorination byproducts, etc., where they disarm, neutralize, and remove them as waste products.

 

 

 

How Toxic is Your Water?

 

 

 

 

 

What are our alternatives?

 

     Instead of using chlorine as a disinfectant, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) can be used which is 4000 times more effective than chlorine. Ozone (O₃) is also just as effective and ozine is the disinfectant used in over 11 hundred cites. Some of these cities have used this method since 1901. Using ozone reduced the potential THM by 75 percent. H₂O₂ and O₃ are relatively cheap; moreover, the only byproducts are pure oxygen and hydrogen. Potential THM formation was reduced by an average of 75 percent. Ozone is safer, cheaper and more effective than chlorine.

 

                  

                                                          Ozone formation                                                                      Hydrogen peroxide

 

 

 

 

So why not switch to ozone or hydrogen peroxide? 

 

     Chemical companies in America and Canada make big profits by not having to pay to dispose their excess chlorine in any safe method. They just dispose of their excess chlorine into our drinking water.

France and Germany, less controlled by the chemical industry, chlorinate water only in emergencies. 

 

 

 

                                                                        

 

 

---

---