Knowledgebase

Water filtration #752467

Asked May 27, 2021, 9:00 AM EDT

How do I find out how to filter out chloramines from our water via a household filtration system? I know they are harder to filter out than chlorines. I can’t get an answer to this and do not know who to ask that I trust. Thank you.

Ingham County Michigan

Expert Response

Hello, and thank you for your inquiry. 

Do you have a municipal source of drinking water that is being treated with chlorine and/or chloramines?

Have you connected with your local health Department at all? 

https://www.naccho.org/membership/lhd-directory

I would recommend you visit the NSF International website, as they are an independent firm that rates various drinking water filtration systems. You may find this resource sheet helpful, and if you click on the water treatment systems link you can search for various systems based on different contaminants of concern, etc. 

http://info.nsf.org/certified/dwtu/ 

EPA has some infommation about public drinking water disinfection, but I didn't see anything about filtration.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_disinfection.html

I did want to share this publication with you, in case it was of help. While the GAG systems on page 2 are used to remove chlorine and chlorine reaction products, I do not know if chloramine is one of them. I am reaching out now to some colleagues at MSU and see if I can come up some information for you.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/e-3342_wcag_2.0.pdf 

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 01, 2021, 11:57 AM EDT
Thank you very much for all of this information!  I will check these out.

Sandy

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On Jun 1, 2021, at 11:57 AM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:


The Question Asker Replied June 02, 2021, 8:06 AM EDT
Again, thank you for your response and helpful information.  

My local health department knows NOTHING about chloramine removal.  

The NSF site also was not that great, partly because you have to enter the name of a system and I don’t know all the systems that are out there that claim to remove or reduce chloramines.  I did enter the Pelican system and it popped up. However, the NSF just shows what the claims are, and it doesn’t seem to verify if they are truthful claims.

The MSU extension publication was a great overview of the problem and possible solutions, but sadly, does not really address chloramines. 

This is an issue of great concern to me.  I have read that chloramines have a longer half life and are a greater carcinogenic danger than chlorine. I realize that the township may be using both chlorine and chloramines in the water.  I think it is absolutely wrong for our government to be putting so many chemicals in to our water supply and not be telling us how to safely extract them.  I am not a chemist but I’m not stupid either, and I am angry about all the chemicals allowed into our environment.  Why are thousands of chemicals banned in Europe and only a fraction of that number in the US?  I’m sure we all know that is about money.  Sorry to vent on you but I’ve reached my limit on all this.

Thank you again for your time.

Sandy Taylor 

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 1, 2021, at 11:57 AM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:


The Question Asker Replied June 02, 2021, 9:13 AM EDT

Thank you for sharing your concern.

Just to let you know, I am still looking into some additional information for your inquiry, and will get back to you when I have some further information.

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 08, 2021, 2:07 PM EDT

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