Tap Water Treatments: Chlorine and Flouride
Water is one of few common resources on which all of us depend for life, so it’s important for us to be responsible stewards. Read on to learn about some of the potential dangers hiding in your tap, what you can do about them, and how you can be drinking in a cleaner, healthier community.
Water is one of few common resources on which all of us depend for life, so it’s important for us to be responsible stewards. Read on to learn about some of the potential dangers hiding in your tap, what you can do about them, and how you can be drinking in a cleaner, healthier community.
Fluoride
Fluoride, which many communities have decided to add to drinking water to prevent tooth decay, is very controversial, and many people do not want to be exposed to it.
The Environmental Protection Agency has set an enforceable drinking water standard for fluoride of 4 milligrams per liter (some people who drink water containing fluoride in excess of this level over many years could get bone disease, including pain and tenderness of the bones). EPA has also set a secondary fluoride standard of 2 mg/L to protect against dental fluorosis, which in moderate or severe forms, could lead to brown staining and pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem occurs only in developing teeth, before they erupt from the gums. Children under 9 years old should not drink water that has more than 2 mg/L of fluoride.18
In March 2006, the National Academy of Science released a report stating that fluoride levels in municipal water were not benefiting human health and should be lowered.19
Decisions about whether to add fluoride to a community’s drinking water are made at the state and local level. Contact your town council, state legislature, or state water regulatory agency if you are concerned about your local fluoride standard. Fluoride levels can be reduced by some filtration systems.
Chlorine
Many utilities add chlorine to their source water to kill bacteria or parasites and to prevent bacterial growth in the distribution system. However, when chlorine combines with organic matter, such as farm runoff, it creates dangerous byproducts. To stay below EPA standards for such byproducts, some water suppliers use related chemical disinfectants called chloramines (a combination of chlorine and ammonia). However, these also create different byproducts and are potentially toxic to some sensitive populations.18
Instead of treating drinking water with large amounts of chlorine, we should clean up rivers and lakes that serve as our drinking water sources, invest in filtration and alternative first-stage treatment disinfection technologies, and maintain appropriate levels of chlorination in the distribution system to protect public health.20 Alternative disinfection technologies include ultraviolet light, ozonation, and reverse osmosis.