Are there special customers who should be notified prior to a city changing from chlorine to chloramines for water disinfection?

In general, before a water utility makes such a change, all customers are usually notified but health care providers, dialysis patients, and pet store owners or others who care for fish should receive special notice.

Why are the special customers typically notified? The primary reason for the notification is to give consumers and users of the water time to make adjustments to remove chloramines from the water where small residual levels can cause health problems for humans, fish or other animals.

Just what is a chloramines and how does it affect health care providers, dialysis patients, and pet store owners?

氯胺是氯和氨的组合，氯胺被认为是水分布系统中更可靠的消毒剂，而不是单独的氯，因为氯胺持续时间。氯胺也产生比氯的较低水平的消毒副产物。形成氯胺，氯和氨彼此组合使用。氨是天然存在的，在许多地区的地下水中发现。氨也可以非常少量加入水中。

Chlorine and chloramines must be removed from the water used in kidney dialysis machines. There are two ways to remove these disinfectants:

• Adding ascorbic acid, or
• Using a granular activated carbon treatment. Medical centers that perform dialysis are responsible for treating the water that enters dialysis machines. We notified all medical facilities to treat the water to remove chloramines, just as they do for chlorine. Home dialysis service companies usually make the modifications needed, however you should check with your equipment supplier and/or physician. Chloraminated water is safe for kidney dialysis patients to drink. If you have any questions, please consult your physician.

What about fish owners? Chloramines is toxic to cold-blooded animals, such as fish, because it passes through the gills of the fish or the skin of the reptile, and directly enters the bloodstream. Fish tank and pond owners, including zoos, hobbyists, restaurants, fish markets, grocery stores with lobster tanks and bait shops with fish containers, must have appropriate filtration equipment or use water treatment products to neutralize chloramines. Chloraminated water should be treated before it is added to your tank, aquarium, pond or goldfish bowl. Carbon filters on your tank may not remove chloramines from the tap water that is added directly to your tank. Chloramines will not dissipate from boiling or holding water in open, standing containers.

以下提示有助于保护您的鱼免受氯胺或氯残留物的存在：

• Chemical additives for dechloraminating water you add to your tank or pond (makeup water) are available at pet/fish supply stores.


• Tap water used with artificial sea salts for makeup water in salt water fish tanks must be dechloraminated.


• Water additions should be as small as possible, so the fish are not stressed as the biological filter cleanses the water. Avoid large water changes.


• 碳滤光器应以慢速进行操作以进行最佳氯胺。应仔细监控它们以确定碳介质是否已达到其使用寿命的结束，并且需要改变。制造商通常指示在需要更新过滤器之前可以过滤的加仑数量。请与供应商进行妥善操作。从过滤器测试残留物将有助于确定最佳过滤速率。

So why do water utilities use chloramines if they must take precautions to notify special consumers? In the past, chlorine was typically used for both primary and secondary disinfections in the water treatment process to guard against bacterial growth in the distribution system. Over time, many water utilities experienced elevated levels of trihalomethanes (THM's) with chlorine as a disinfectant. THM's are a suspected carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), created in small amounts as a by-product when natural organics in water combine with chlorine.

美国环境保护局（EPA）将标准降至2002年1月1日为期80亿左右，因为饮用水中允许的最高水平。金宝搏188dycEPA建议氯胺作为消毒剂，作为避免形成的方法。氯胺的保险水仍然没有比氯的时间段没有细菌。因此，虽然显然是比氯气的更好的替代品，但氯胺素本身仍然是一种消毒剂，所以必须在使用之前通知特殊需求的化学品，以及任何问题导致使用。