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I never was all that brilliant at chemistry in college (an unremarkable "C" student 90% of the time due to the fact that I was a party hound), but I seem to remember something about a really noxious gas with this combination. Not to mention that I'd have questions about the by products from any reactions used to remove it.

So whats the scoop, Doc? This stuff deadly over a length of time?

The noxious gas was indeed probably chloramine. I don't know of any problems attributed to low levels of it, but the problem it's aimed at solving (trihalomethanes in the water due to a reaction of chlorine with organic material) is (1) probably not a real problem, but mostly a result of scare tactics from the enviroloonies (2)only there because you have crappy water to begin with.

Chloramine was first used as a potable water disinfectant in the early 1900's but was not widely accepted due to cost factors and handling porblems. Sodium hypochlorite and chlorine gas became the standards for most of the last century.

Chloramine is now coming back into favor due to better science in the field and a greater emphasis on removing sources of possible carcinogens.

The biggest problem with chloramine disinfection is the possible production of nitrates. This can occur when the chlorine/ammonia compound breaks apart, releasing free ammonia into the medium. A typical ratio would be five parts chlorine to one part ammonia. Free ammonia can combine with other agents to produce nitrites which in turn can evolve into nitrates, which at certain high levels, can be a health hazard, mainly to infants and toddlers.

All US public water agencies conform to rigid sampling and testing regimens to insure that disinfection is done correctly with the minimum possibility of disinfection byproducts being produced.

The benefits of using chloramine over chlorine are that chloramine degrades much more slowly than chlorine and improves secondary 'finish' characteristics such as taste and odor.

BTW, ozone is good as a point of treatment disinfectant but does not provide prtotection from pathogens that may be in the distribution system.