what is the main reason that water supplies are chlorinated?
396116
Chlorine is used as a disinfectant in swimming pools,water treatment plants and under groung water supplies!so the supplies are chlorinated to kill the bacteria and other germs that might pollute water!!!
340588
I suppose you mean why is polluted ground water harder to get rid of??\n\nB/c it is in the ground. Groundwater found in aquifers can go hundreds of feet below the ground & can cover several hundred miles. Water in these aquifers "travel". Sometimes you can have pollution added in one place & it show up miles away in another.\n\nIt's not like you can keep up w/ everyone who is polluting it as well. There are point & non point sources of pollution. Point sources are identifiable ones that you can actually see. Non point sources are the worst b/c they are the ones that are hard to identify & cover larger areas such as fertilizers & pesticides.\n\nSo to sum it up...if you can't see where it is going or where it is located, you can't clean it up. And you can't exactly clean up an aquifer that covers that much area to begin w/.
105813
Because water cunducts electricity. Thus if you put water on something electronic the power can go wherever the water is, burning whatever it touches.
421615
It depends on which method you are talking about and the end use of the water.  For drinking water they are strictly monitored.  For industrial reuse, you try to balance cost and quality so you can have problems.
1050647
It depends on the levels. Very high is very bad for you. Chlorine is used to kill most germs in the pools. In Europe there are 2 pools, 1 which you swim in and the other to treat the water where the chloramines (cancer causing) are kept to a very very small level. In North America they use a different system which is much cheaper but uses higher levels of Ozone in their surge tank which gives a higher risk of cancer. Chlorine can cause also breathing problems and irritate your eyes. Also is can turn bleached hair green. On the plus side it can whiten your teeth. Flourine is similar to chlorine and is still in the tap water in North America due to the fact it gives you whiter, healthier teeth. But in Britain this was stopped some time ago due to the fact that it can cause health problems (still wonder why the Brits have bad teeth?). North America goes wholescale on all the water treatment processes from drinking water to swimming pools which is why costs are cheaper but health issues are sometimes skipped over. But the risk of swimming in un-chlorinated water is far greater! It is basically a stagnant lake otherwise. So chlorine can cause cancer on a small level but in North America it can be improved upon by implementing the decontaminating routine used in Germany where most chloramines are removed before people go swimming.
431187
i think most tap water contains fluoride, something bottled water companies filter out. seems that tap water is actually more regulated than bottled water.
780900
That is why I only trust on tap water from home with a system that would remove most or allchemicals and metals in the water. Others have bacteria and metals that make you become poisoned, damage your nerves or make you ill.
22021
Considering our water these days you just have to consider two factors (A) its salty (B) its most likely dirty.\n\nEffects of drinking contaminated water:\nhttp://www.walrus.com/~gatherer/interpret.html#health
1157184
No! It isn't really possible for many reasonss to include dilution and chlorine. In addition, body fluids are not normally released in a pool!
519098
Using filters to get those waste disposal. \nAfter, those filters full of toxic products are sent to special tratment. Sometimes to be recycled or usually being through somewhere that will be classified as a dangerous place.
1016830
Water wastage will never be a problem, EVER.\nWe have abundant resources, and if those ever began to dry up, which they won't because of rain collection, we have desalinization plants that filter the salt out of ocean water and purify it so it is drinkable.\n\nBy the way I love that word, "wastage."
1111764
The chlorine gas dissolves in the water to form the relatively weak acid hypochlorous acid\n\nCl2 + H2O --> HClO + HCl\n\nHypochlorous acid is a strong oxidizing agent though, and destroys the outer membranes/protein coat of almost all bacteria and viruses.  \n\nTake note that reaction must take place in dark.  Otherwise, there is formation of undesirable HCL (which raises the saltiness of the water and decreases pH significantly) according to reaction\n              \n 2HClO       (sunlight)--> 2HCl + O2\n\nThis is the weak point of chlorination: the fact that once the water is exposed to sunlight the antimicrobial effect of the HClO is diminished.   Also, chlorination may sometimes result in the formation of unwanted chlorohalogenic compounds which may be harmful to humans.  Other methods are used to avoid these weaknesses.   For more, visit\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorination
666152
When toxic substances enter lakes, streams, rivers, oceans, and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the groundwater deposits.\n\nWater pollution has many sources. The most polluting of them are the city sewage and industrial waste discharged into the rivers. The facilities to treat waste water are not adequate in any city in India. Presently, only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter groundwater, rivers, and other water bodies. Such water, which ultimately ends up in our households, is often highly contaminated and carries disease-causing microbes. Agricultural run-off, or the water from the fields that drains into rivers, is another major water pollutant as it contains fertilizers and pesticides.
561048
Some oxide of chlorine. No idea about which one would be stable at those conditions, though.
1177272
Chlorine gas can be produced by the electrolysis of Sodium Chlo rid (Salt) , Chlorine gas is used as disinfectant for water , the products of electrolysis of salt are, chlorine gas which liquefied and filled in cylinders, Caustic Soda, HCl . clorox which is a trade name for sodium hypochlorite Na0Cl(4%solution ) is used for household uses , produced by the reaction of chlorine with caustic soda and diluted with distilled water.
824641
Mostly they add sodium hypochlorite or bleaching powder to swimming pool for disinfection. It is the active oxygen in these products which kill the organic matter of the bacteria and virus, leaving them dead. It is not chlorine gas which is evolved, rather it is active oxygen which is evolved and it is also corrosive to skin. Avoid using swimming pools when it is smells a hell of chlorine.
822508
The only option I can think of is buying one of those large backyard pools that you fill up yourself and use your hose to fill it up, since that water doesnt affect you. I am allergic to chlorine so I need antiheistamines whenever I go swimming in a pool, and sometimes even when I drink tap water that hasnt been filtered. I have no problem in the ocean or river though. Rivers are fresh water and are generally cleaner than the water we drink. I cant stand the salt in ocean water and can react to that too though. GL with finding a solution.