What Are The Drinking Water Chlorination Guidelines? Find out why it is important to test the water for levels of chlorine to ensure that the water is safe to drink.
What is chlorine?
Chlorine dioxide is one of the most widely utilised water disinfectants in a property or home; it's also primarily used by professionals in the water utility industry. It helps our communities effectively maintain hygienic conditions through our pipes and the flow rate in the public water network.
Chlorine is a chemical used at extremely low levels in our everyday drinking water disinfectant, and it is incredibly safe for use. The residual methods allow for lower levels to be acceptable. Higher concentrations are more so used for various other safety purposes, such as hydrotherapy pools, leisure and healthcare spas, sterilisers, and swimming pools. It is used to clean potentially contaminated areas, much like ammonia, that you also have to dilute as it is incredibly corrosive. There is a wide range of alternative disinfection methods; however, chlorine is the most used across the UK. It can sometimes concern our drinking water due to its objectionable taste and smell, as many can be highly sensitive to such.
The information below will highlight why you may find strong chlorine smells or tastes in your tap water supply and what you can do to rid these problems if you are sensitive.
What do you do if you notice chlorine in your water?
In England and Wales, the levels of chlorine in the tap water we drink are incredibly low compared to several countries around the globe, wherein they provide higher levels of the chemical compounds. Usually, many water companies like to ensure the residual disinfectant level is approximately 0.5mg/l or less, whether it's combined or free chlorine solutions. However, often high levels are required, especially during pipework or network maintenance. Typically, you can assess whether there is maintenance work within your area if you detect a slightly stronger scent of chlorine or you can taste it in your drinking water. It is not an issue to concern yourself with, as this will often not be a long-lasting problem.
On the other hand, if you notice a more potent smell or TCP taste in your tap water, or if it doesn't go away within a short period, it may cause concern. We highly recommend that you immediately contact your local water company so that they can begin the process to disinfect drinking water. You can look online for their website, the back of your water bill or search up the word WATER in your updated telephone directory for emergency numbers.
Why use chlorine?
After being appropriately handled by professional water providers, water is safe to consume when it leaves the drinking water treatment plants. Adding chlorine will assist in preserving the quality and safeness of the water whilst it's passing through various miles of pipework to run into our workplaces, homes and properties successfully. Chlorine has a 100-year long history of providing safe use worldwide for adequate hygiene purposes, which is why it is a chemical that consistently thrives.
Can you taste or smell chlorine in your water?
The form and amount of chlorine present in water systems or storage tanks can have minor variations and types. Suppose your household or property is close to any water treatment works or base. The chlorine levels in your tap water will likely be higher than in buildings further away. Water companies must have management policies in place whenever they perform residual disinfectant tests. These policies help ensure that chlorine is at a minimum level in the most remote parts of the supply network whilst ensuring all consumers can endure the maximum level. Occasionally, the chlorine levels are not always optimal, so the operation of groundwater sources and distribution networks is an incredibly challenging task fit for professionals.
If you don't like the taste or smell of the water coming from your current tap supply, we recommend you cool the water before drinking it or giving it to your guests. Place water-filled jugs with filters or lids inside your fridge for a short-term period, remembering to rid of unused water after a long time or over 24 hours. We encourage that you clean the jugs and filtration devices regularly or invest in new ones every once in a while to ensure the source water is always fresh and handled appropriately.
Are low amounts of chlorine harmful?
WHO, also known as The World Health Organisation, has set a basic guideline displaying the maximum value of chlorine chemical disinfectant at 5mg. Many water companies within England and Wales aim to keep below this guideline and often provide small amounts below 1mg/l. Your local or hired water company will often provide you with free water reports about the current quality of your supply or chlorinated drinking water system. The report will display your local water system's minimum and maximum residual chlorine levels.
What else can you do if sensitive to tastes or smells?
Cooling tap water in your refrigerator is what we recommend; however, you may also wish to utilise a jug with an activated carbon cartridge filter inside. For those that opt for a filter or if you have selected a relatively modern fridge with a fitted integral water judge, you must follow the manufacturer's instructions in the manual. Failing to do so can put you and your household at risk of various hygiene issues and contamination.
Disinfection requirements
Chemical disinfection helps to rapidly reduce any growth of or lingering pathogenic microorganisms within the water to assess whether it is safe by the public health standards. Water disinfection, therefore, prevents a widespread transmission of hazardous diseases that could be detrimental to human exposure due to its many health effects. If accessible to you, safe water is the best option.
Adequate big or small systems to disinfect drinking water supplies can neutralise or even kill pathogens existing in the water'such as easily maintained, inexpensive, automatic and safe, providing long-term residual disinfection. You must ensure all chemicals are stored safely and straightforwardly so that your water is never unpalatable. Your local governments and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforce legal requirements that all public water systems and supplies are safe.
Water supply operators are regularly directed to perform adequate disinfection of pathogens in water and filter it to prevent any contamination in the future. Your water supply can spread various diseases such as Legionella, Typhoid Fever, Giardia Lamblia, Heterotrophic Bacteria, Viruses, Turbidity and Coliform Bacteria, so it's best to do whatever possible to stop it in its tracks.
Testing water for biological quality
Total Coliform Bacteria is what is searched for when professionals do tests on the biological quality of our water supplies and drinking water quality. You can discover such organisms in the soil and the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals. Commonly, its strong presence determines and suggests significant pathogenic contamination. Per 100 millilitres, the standard sits at less than one coliform colony.
Community water systems must have professional, frequent tests for total coliform bacteria. Any drinking water from a private system is annually tested on its physical quality, often during the springtime and at the owner's discretion. We also highly recommend such testing after significant repairs or improvements from professionals.
The presence of coliform doesn't always mean that the water is dangerous to drink. A test of this kind is a screening technique, so if your water supply receives a positive result, professionals must promptly retest the surface water. A positive/high test result indicates significant contamination, and therefore, you'll require immediate action. You must make sure that if this is the case and faecal coliform organisms are found, you, your household and any guests must not consume the water until the raw water is purified.
Chlorine treatment
Chlorine is known to readily oxidise with numerous chemicals, such as haloacetic acids, ammonia, chloramines, sodium hypochlorite solutions, etc., that have been previously dissolved within the water, plant materials and microorganisms; these are the chemicals that eliminate harmful factors such as colours, odours, temperatures and specific unpleasant tastes.
The oxidation of various components uses up the chlorine, therefore, adding to the treatment systems' demand and extending it. Doing so is why professionals need to add sufficient chlorine levels to drinking water to comply with the chlorine demand and provide adequate residual disinfection to meet EPA standards. Any chlorine that does not successfully combine with the other aspects in your water is a residual chlorine product; the breakpoint is when free chlorine is suitable for effective disinfection. The ideal system has a free chlorine concentration of around 0.3-0.5mg/l.
Many professionals utilise the DPD colourimetric test kit (Diethyl Phenylene Diamine) as these test the breakpoint of the chlorine and the remaining residual for all private water systems. The kits are used to test free chlorine instead of total chlorine; however, we highly recommend they monitor your water supply's ORP rate (Oxidation Reduction Potential).
Drinking Water Chlorination Guidelines
The chlorination of water that we swim and drink is essential for our bodies. It is a substance that helps protect us from various nasty, dangerous diseases that could threaten our overall health. Disease control is paramount for water utilities, as it is their responsibility to keep our water safe.
Chlorine is a chemical that we use to protect us primarily because it is effective and a relatively straightforward chemical to measure. You can measure it in the field or within a laboratory, which is essential for discovering the exact measurement in any chlorination process performed by professionals.
It's paramount to ensure enough chlorine in the drinking water system; a lack of or too little chlorine means that we aren't receiving the protection we need to shield ourselves from potential diseases. Too little chlorine can also dramatically affect the taste of the water, making it taste unpleasant, so we also use the chemical to remove any disagreeable flavours. Unchlorinated water could lead others to try water from other sources that may not be suitable for drinking and, therefore, lead to even more harmful outcomes.
You want always to ensure that water is entirely free of dangerous pathogens by utilising and maintaining free chlorine residual. These free chlorine residuals help kill the microorganisms with immense effectiveness. The required chlorine residual levels can often vary depending on the local condition and the types of water supplies available. Professionals must ensure a minimum of 0.5mg or some residual left of chlorine product after at least 30 minutes of water-chlorine contact time.
If there are any signs or risks posed by cholera or waterborne disease outbreaks that begin to occur within your local areas, it's best to add a higher level of chlorine residual. Any professionals you hire must ensure that correct amounts and levels are included and reached within your drinking water systems.
We highly recommend doing plenty of research to hire and secure a professional of a certain skill level to ensure that once the work is officially completed, the right level of residual is left. These jobs can be dangerous and have specific requirements, so it is best to leave them to professionals. You'll find that many local water boards and utility companies are rigorous when it comes to mains connections, which is why those that are unqualified or without a valid chlorination certificate aren't allowed to make any final connections to the mains supply.