Free Republic

Results from a large population-based cohort study including 60,000 men and women in central Sweden suggest that exposure to higher concentrations of disinfection byproducts in drinking water is associated with elevated risk of colorectal cancer in men. Drinking water is a very important part of our diet that is consumed daily by essentially everyone in the population. Hence, assuring a that the public drinking water maintains a high standard is crucial. Chlorination of drinking water is a cheap and effective method widely used to control waterborne infectious disease. A drawback is, however, that reactive chemical byproducts can be formed in...

I know never to mix cleaners and to certainly never mix ammonia and chlorine but many cleaners contain ammonium chloride. Is this not essentially ammonia and chlorine? If not, how does it differ? If it is similar, what is done to it so it doesn't kill the user? I am obviously not a chemist and have merely an nodding acquaintance with the periodic table, so I would ask that your explanations be simplified as much as possible, as Einstein said, "As simple as possible but no simpler." Thanks

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which supplies drinking water to all San Francisco residents, has launched a major outreach campaign to inform customers about an upcoming change in the drinking water disinfectant. The water quality improvement will require fish and amphibian owners to change the way they prepare water for fish tanks and aquariums. In Fall 2003, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will switch from chlorine to chloramine disinfection of drinking water. Chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, is a proven disinfectant considered more effective than chlorine alone, as it lasts longer in water to...