Giardia
Unique Disadvantages of Chlorine
07/12/11 19:56 Filed in: Chlorination
Inquiry
Interesting stuff, but another really easy way to make water safe is with a simple drop of chlorine. I actually do some work with the American Chemistry Council and we’ve been working with municipalities on chlorinating water supplies. Most major towns and cities have been chlorinating their drinking water for 100 years. We’re now working on bringing this simple and safe method to more rural and developing areas.
Response
Each point-of-use water treatment technology has unique strengths. Chlorination is a well-proven technique, but, as does all point-of-use treatment technologies it also has it’s own unique disadvantages.
For instance, waterborne pathogens such as cryptosporidium and giardia have high resistance to chemical disinfectants such as chlorine, but are removed by sand filtration. There are also technical and logistical issues of chlorine effectiveness across different ranges of turbidity levels caused by seasonal change, i.e., monsoons.
Also, the serious question of chlorine’s role in the formation of harmful halogenated organic compounds (halomethanes) in drinking water still remains.
In addition, it’s well established that people dislike the strong odor and disagreeable taste associated with free chlorine.
Most importantly, due to the necessity to continuously repurchase a consumable product, at-risk households will abandon treating water when financial resources are unavailable.
All are critical factors that cause considerable discontinuation – therefore, as evidenced within various studies, chlorination as a stand alone intervention within developing countries hasn’t been able to achieve scalability or long-term sustainability. -- Michael
Interesting stuff, but another really easy way to make water safe is with a simple drop of chlorine. I actually do some work with the American Chemistry Council and we’ve been working with municipalities on chlorinating water supplies. Most major towns and cities have been chlorinating their drinking water for 100 years. We’re now working on bringing this simple and safe method to more rural and developing areas.
Response
Each point-of-use water treatment technology has unique strengths. Chlorination is a well-proven technique, but, as does all point-of-use treatment technologies it also has it’s own unique disadvantages.
For instance, waterborne pathogens such as cryptosporidium and giardia have high resistance to chemical disinfectants such as chlorine, but are removed by sand filtration. There are also technical and logistical issues of chlorine effectiveness across different ranges of turbidity levels caused by seasonal change, i.e., monsoons.
Also, the serious question of chlorine’s role in the formation of harmful halogenated organic compounds (halomethanes) in drinking water still remains.
In addition, it’s well established that people dislike the strong odor and disagreeable taste associated with free chlorine.
Most importantly, due to the necessity to continuously repurchase a consumable product, at-risk households will abandon treating water when financial resources are unavailable.
All are critical factors that cause considerable discontinuation – therefore, as evidenced within various studies, chlorination as a stand alone intervention within developing countries hasn’t been able to achieve scalability or long-term sustainability. -- Michael
