HomeAbout Us Products Compare Reviews Guides

Chlorine vs Chloramines

The silent shift in municipal water treatment and why your old filter might be useless.

The End of Traditional Chlorine

For over a century, cities injected pure Chlorine gas into the water supply to eradicate typhoid and cholera. However, pure free chlorine dissipates rapidly. By the time water travels miles through pipes to reach the furthest suburbs, the chlorine has evaporated, leaving the water vulnerable to bacteria.

To solve this, over 30% of global municipalities have quietly switched to Chloramine (a strict chemical bond of Chlorine and Ammonia).

Why Chloramines are a Problem for You

Chloramines are incredibly stable. They don't evaporate into the air like chlorine, meaning you cannot just leave a pitcher of water in the fridge overnight to "gas off" the chemicals.

Worse, standard Activated Carbon filters DO NOT efficiently remove Chloramines.

Because chloramines are a complex ammonia bond, water must have an exceptionally long contact time with the carbon to break the bond. A cheap carbon filter might remove 95% of 'free chlorine', but it will only remove 10% of 'chloramines'.

How to Actually Remove Chloramines

If your local water utility uses chloramines (you can check your annual water quality report), you must upgrade your filtration equipment. You need either a true Reverse Osmosis (RO) system, or specialized Catalytic Carbon blocks which are highly engineered to shatter the ammonia bond.