Hazards of Chlorinated Water!

Hi Guys,

The taste of Chlorine in water means safety to many people across India. It is quite shocking to know that it doesn’t mean safety, but danger.

Chlorine has been dissolved in the water in order to destroy harmful pathogens in the water. It has been the best economical method to purify large quantity of water. For decades chlorine dissolved water has been the saviour against cholera and various other water borne diseases. Government officials have found this as the best possible way to protect people from infection.

When Chlorine is mixed with water, it forms trichlorophosphate (TCP) and the trihalomethane group (THMs) which includes chloroform and other chlorine by-products. This means that the drinking water we get includes harmful by products of chlorine. What can these products do?

According to research, chlorine and its byproducts, trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) are very harmful carcinogens that can increase the risks of bladder, kidney and rectal cancer. In USA, it has been proved that the chances of getting Bladder Cancer increases if you drink chlorinated water.

Another research from Norway, Canada and the United States has linked chlorine in drinking water to increased birth defects, still-births and now spina bifida (incomplete formation of vertebrae and spinal cords).

US Council of Environmental Quality says that, ’Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine’.

World Health Organization (WHO) has also published an article on Chlorine in Water. In the article it is said that higher chlorine levels in water lead to increase in Cholesterol levels as Chlorine and Calcium in water somehow react with lipid levels. Again WHO says that chlorinated water increases the chances of Bladder Cancer. It says that the allowable level is 5 mg/l and at that level we can taste chlorine in water, so we can never know whether it’s below the safety level or not. Read the whole article at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chlorine.pdf

In a site I found these words, ‘Apply your common sense. Would you pour chlorinated water in your fish tank? All the fishes will die, won’t they?’

Before buying a Water Purifier, make sure that the water purifier does not use harmful chemicals and it removes the dangerous substances present in water. You can read an article on Water Purifiers written by Bejon Mishra, a social activist. http://www.indiblogger.in/crusade-against-chlorine.php

Happy Reading!!!

P.S: This post has been written for the ‘Crusade against Chlorine’ in Indiblogger.