Chloramine in Drinking Water

Chloramine and Chlorine

We may not like these chemicals being put into our drinking water, but the fact is we need them. However, we only need them to do their job right up to the point until it's coming out of our phaucet. Once it's on it's way out, we have control of what we allow into our bodies. This article was written to help you understand what chloramine is and what you may want to prevent it from getting into your drinking water.

What is chloramine?

Cloramine is a highly toxic substance. By mixing clorine and ammonia you get cloramine. If you read about cloramine on the FDA gov site, you'll find the information to be confusing. On one hand, it is not recommended for patients recieving dialisys. Then in the very same paragraph they tell you it's ok for these patients as long as it's meets EPA standards. Which brings us to the question, who exactly is monitoring this cloramine?

How is Chloramine Monitored?

The FDA says chloramine is "closely" monitored. Let's take a look at what is considers to be "close" monitoring. When we think about how the FDA monitors the pharmacutical companies, we have reason to look deeper. I'm sure you're aware of how many drugs are sold, then a few years later, they are recalled and the company is being sued because of the health risks and issues as well as deaths they incure?

The standards for what is approved as safe is very low. Our bodies are flooded with pesticides on our fruits and vegetables that are deamed safe. The meat we eat comes from animals that are injected with hormones and other non-natural means of boosting their size and productivity. Those hormons and other substances are also considered safe.

I personally do not feel safe with these types of chemicals and pesticides in my food, do you?

Regarding the monitoring of our tap water. Are you aware of what is "required monitoring"? Each company is required to monitor their own "system". The municipal plants are offered "free" testing of their water. So, it's not going to cost them anything to do this testing. However, it will cost them something by way of time and if the results are bad, it will cost them money to adjust or fix problem areas. Hm... does anyone else think that this could create a lack of desire to properly "monitor" their water systems?

Here's a direct quote from the FDA gov site about chloramine:

"Each system considering a switch to chloramine should determine whether or not it has the resources to properly maintain and monitor its water quality so that these issues do not become problems."

Notice that they are required to monitor themselves! Most of us would imagine that close monitoring means someone else is checking up on these companies. So the question here is, can we trust each of these municipal companies to closely monitor their own systems? I believe we would be nieve to have faith in a self monitoring system of any kind.

Is Chloramine Safe?

Chloramine can actually change the chemical properties of the water. Nutrification and corrosion to name a few. This can cause an increase in the corrosion of lead and copper in the pipes. This means that a greater amount of lead and copper is going to end up in our tap water.

What is the Purpose of Adding Chloramine to Our Water Supply?

Most areas use chlorine to manage harmful bacteria in our water supplies. However, some are choosing to use chloramine because it is not as reactive as chlorine as it forms fewer disinfection byproducts.

The purpose of chloramine is the same as chlorine. It is to disinfect the water of harmful bacteria. However, when chloramine is not closely monitored, it can lose it's ability to disinfect the water due to nitrification which is a result of bacterial oxidation of ammonia.

Because our water supplies contain harmful bacteria, we actually do need things like chlorine and chloramine in our water. Without it diseases like typhoid, hepatitis and cholera will flourish in our water supplies. So, while it's frightening to know how toxic these things can be, they are a necessary evil.

How to Avoid These Harmful Chemicals

Over the past few years bottled water and the use of water filters have become more prevelant. The more people know about what's in our tap water, the more they avoid drinking it. In some areas, the water tastes so bad, it's unpaletable. Which increases the amount of bottled water sold.

However, buying bottled water has it's drawbacks.

1. Most all bottled water is acidic.
2. Most all bottled water is produced through osmosis. Meaning, it has been stripped of everything, including the healthy minerals and calsium.
3. The plastic it is delivered in is becoming highly problematic. It is poluting our planet and if not properly handled, the water in these containers becomes filled with toxic gasses.

This brings us to water filters. Our tap water is maintained at a neutral pH level of 7.0. So at least it is not acidic. However, there are still drawbacks to using water filters.

1. Cheap water filters may not filter out chlorine and do not filter out chloramine.
2. Expensive water filters filter out everything, including healthy minerals and calsium.

What about expensive bottled water that has a pH level of 8.0 - 8.5? Or other water filtering systems that produce alkaline water up to 9.5 pH?

I have found one type of bottled water that has a pH of 8.0 to 8.5. If I had to be without my LEVELUK SD501 Kangen water machine, this is the water that I'd try to get. It's expensive, and hard to find. It is from New Zealand.

I have also heard of a few home filters that produce alkaline water at a pH level of 8.5+. Yet, there are reasons why we should not settle for just plane alkaline water as well.

Why Alkaline - Why Kangen Water?

1. Kangen water has been restructured into a super hydrating alkaline/antioxidant water.
2. Kangen water washes away toxic acidic waste at the cellular level in our bodies.
3. Kangen water is full of healthy minerals and calsium as it does not remove it from our tap or well water.
4. Kangen water produced by Enagic's LEVELUK SD501 contains an ORP of between 550 and 1200.
5. ORP = Antioxidants. Antioxidants give us incredible health benefits as can be discovered in the articles about free radicals.
6. Enagic's LEVELUK SD501 is made of the highest grade materials. The water cells contain 7 plates with the greatest surface area compared to the competitors, adding platnum and titanium by dipping a more expensive quality producing option, verses the sprayed on technique that requires less use of the platnum and titanium metals resulting in lower ORP and longevity.
7. Enagic's LEVELUK SD501 machines are manufactured totally inhouse. No material is produced through outside sources. Other companies have their parts shipped in from a variety of sources.
8. Enagic's LEVELUK SD501 machines are assembled by a single highly trained technician. Other companies use assembly line production.

The Ultimate solution: The healthiest water on the planet can be produced by Enagic's LEVELUK SD501 Kangen water machines.

***For people that have chloramine in their tap water Enagic sells a filter that specifically takes out chloramine before it enters the machine.