WHO increases safe chlorine levels in drinking water.

[Colin_T]

The World health Organisation (WHO) has increased the "safe" level of chlorine in drinking water. It used to be 2mg/L (ppm) but they recently increased it to 5mg/L. They are saying it's safe for most people. I disagree and can't drink the tap water here in Western Australia when it's at 5mg/L and have to leave the tap water to stand for several weeks before it doesn't hurt my stomach and make me burp heaps when I drink it.

I had issues with tap water years ago when I was breeding fish and all the fry were dying straight after they hatched even though they were in water that had been dechlorinated (at a standard dose rate) and aerated for a couple of days. After a year of complaining to the Water Corporation they sent out a guy to test the water and he said it had 7.5mg/L of chlorine in, which at the time was 3.5 times more than the safe recommended level. The Water Corp reduced the chlorine back to 2mg/L and the fish fry stopped dying. However, lately they had been increasing it and now (2 weeks ago) they told me they are using the new levels recommended by the WHO.

Everyone who keeps fish needs to find out how much chlorine or chloramine is in your water supply and make sure you add enough dechlorinater to neutralise all of the chlorine or chloramine. Most dechlorinaters have a dose rate but that is for 2mg/L of chlorine, not 5mg/L, and double that for chloramine. If you are unsure, contact your water supply company and see how much chlorine or chloramine is in the water.

 

[MaloK]

In addition to chlorine and chloramine, not using enough can also lead to high copper level in the aquarium.

If you wonder why your shrimps die ? Take the copper test. Admissible level for human consumption is like 33 times higher than an invertebrate can tolerate. The normal level in Canada... Very close to or exceeding acute lethal concentrations 50% for some species, meaning a significant percentage of shrimp would die instantly.

It's really the only product that overdosing is never a bad thing.

 

[seangee]

They aslo think 50ppm nitrates are safe, unless of course you are an infant or pregnant woman!

 

[Oldspartan]

Many many years ago when we lived in town the water was chlorinated. We used to boil the water we were going to drink. It removed the chlorine and we kept a 2.5 gallon jug in the fridge.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

@Colin_T

I am surprised you do not know that aerating the water outgasses the chlorine faster. Here is what I would suggest, get two pitchers. Fill them both with tap water and run an airstone in each. You can tatse or use a chlorine test to know when the water is OK for yu to accept to drink.

Then when you have finished one pitcher, refill and aerate it while you are drinking from the other. This way you will always have one container ready to drink. Here is the Google AI explanation:

Chlorine Evaporation:
Chlorine is a volatile compound, meaning it readily turns into a gas. When exposed to air, it naturally evaporates from the water.

• Aeration's Role:
  Aeration, whether through a pump, airstone, or even just a waterfall, increases the rate at which chlorine gas can escape the water by increasing the surface area exposed to the air.
  
  
  
• Factors Affecting Speed:
  The speed of chlorine removal is influenced by several factors, including the amount of aeration, the initial chlorine concentration, the water temperature, and whether the water is treated with chlorine or chloramine (a more stable form of chlorine).

 

[MaloK]

Yes it's true, but most of the time the residual high chlorine is from chloramine not dosed properly and sometimes added with it, the chlorine trapped will resist boiling and need weeks to break down like Colin experienced.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Colin specifically mentioned his problem was chlorine, not chloramine,
AI Overview

The claim that the World Health Organization (WHO) has increased the "safe" level of chloramine in drinking water is not supported by the provided search results. Instead, the information indicates the following:

• WHO's existing guideline for monochloramine is 3 mg/L (3000 µg/L).
• WHO is considering not establishing a specific guideline value for chloramines in the future, based on recent studies suggesting low toxicity of monochloramine at levels found in drinking water.
• The health effect observed in earlier studies, which contributed to setting the 3 mg/L guideline, may have been due to decreased water consumption related to taste aversion rather than direct toxicity.