How to reduce chlorine in water
Chlorine is essential to the disinfection of drinking water for public water systems (PWS). Chlorine removes bacteria (e.g. E.coli), parasites and other hazardous elements from drinking water and protects water from recontamination during storage and distribution. While chlorine injection is essential for disinfection, your water may have higher levels of chlorine than your needs, drinking or equipment. Higher levels of chlorine can affect drinking water quality. Our experts are often asked how to reduce chlorine in water.
Chlorine in drinking water
Chlorination improves water quality by reducing unpleasant tastes and odors, oxidizes minerals and metals like arsenic for easier filtration, and treats and disinfects your water system throughout storage and distribution.
Many municipal water systems have chlorine levels above 1 part per million. That higher chlorine level can result in a bleach odor or taste to water. With chlorine in drinking water, the goal is to reach a level that effectively treats water and meets EPA regulations, without compromising aesthetic quality.
Secondwind achieves lower chlorine levels for our PWS clients because:
- The vast majority of our systems are not influenced by surface water.
- Our systems have less distribution piping to disinfect.
- Our systems have less storage to disinfect.
- We test regularly for disinfection byproducts and work to reduce their production.
To achieve appropriate chlorination levels in your public water supply, ongoing maintenance of your chlorine chemical feed is critical. To properly maintain your feed:
- Make sure your chlorine day tank is full.
- Regularly check the chlorine residual in distribution to make sure it is consistent.
- Have Secondwind analyze all of your chemical feed pumps once a year.
You may also consider upgrading to a peristaltic chemical feed pump as they are very reliable, have a long life span, and require less maintenance.
Ongoing maintenance of your pump will:
- Prevent your chemical feed pump from losing prime.
- Reduce scaling and clogging in your feed pump.
- Extend the life of your chemical feed pump.
If your chemical feed pump is getting old, consider replacing it. Contact the Secondwind team to discuss your options.
Removing chloramines from water
Public water supplies (PWS), especially those fed by surface water, will sometimes use chloramines as the disinfectant. Chloramines are chemical compounds that are a mixture of chlorine and ammonia. Your PWS may switch to chloramines to reduce their disinfection by-products, or carcinogens that are created when disinfectants mix with organic matter, mostly from surface water supplies like reservoirs.
Chloramines are safe to drink, but certain water applications may be less tolerant of chloramines, so some prefer to remove them prior to creating beverages or raising fish. For brewers, water treated with chloramines for disinfection may react with phenols in malt.
Treating chloramines in water
We recommend Kinetico’s line of reverse osmosis systems. It’s certified to remove more contaminants than any other system.
If you have questions about chlorine or chloramines in your water system, our certified water supply experts are here to help. Give us a call at 603-641-5767.
