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Chloramine + Lead Pipes + Fluoride = Contaminated tap water
By Olga Naidenko, EWG Senior Scientist
The lead pollution crisis of the Washington, D.C. water supply - and the culprit that caused it, the water disinfection chemical chloramine - is a powerful example of how things can go terribly wrong when water quality problems are considered and tackled in isolation.
Earlier this year, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) scientists reported the shockingly high lead levels in the blood of young Washington, D.C. children tested between 2001 and 2004, when the District of Columbia's drinking water was being contaminated with lead from aging pipes.
Unfortunately, this situation is not unique: similar results have been reported in Greenville, North Carolina, according to studies by the Duke University researchers.
Chloramines and lead pipes: Not so good together
American water utilities are increasingly switching to chloramines, a mixture of chlorine and ammonia, for final disinfection of drinking water. Chloramine was supposed to be a "safer" water disinfectant than chlorine because it reduces formation of toxic chlorination byproducts. A 2005 survey by the American Water Works Association found that approximately a third of all utilities now use chloramines.
Water disinfection byproducts are associated with increased risk of cancer and possibly adverse effects on the development of the fetus, so minimizing their levels in drinking water is a good thing. Yet, chloramines drastically increase the leaching of lead from pipes. And here is a real challenge: there are tens of thousands of lead service lines in the water system administered by the DC Water and Sewer Authority. Add to these lines the lead based solder used to join copper pipe, brass and chrome plated faucets, and water fixtures, and the opportunities for lead to leach into the drinking water multiply.
We all accept that water disinfection is a public health necessity. However, we need to thoroughly consider the full impact of any chemical added to drinking water given the current water distribution infrastructure in place, not in some theoretical vacuum. As described by Duke researchers, chloramine-induced lead leaching might be lessened by the addition of anticorrosivity agents during the water treatment process. Is that sufficient for protection of public health? We really don't know! Chloramine itself has been associated with severe respiratory toxicity and skin sensitivity. Overall, despite ongoing research, water treatment chemistry is still insufficiently understood by scientists and specific water quality outcomes depend on the particular chemical interactions found in each water treatment and distribution system.
And now add fluoride
In addition to disinfection chemicals, other additives are commonly mixed with the finished drinking water before it leaves the water treatment plant. Of them, fluoride is possibly the most known. Two thirds of the U.S. municipal water supply is artificially fluoridated in an effort to prevent tooth decay. But fluoridation additives in tap water are not the same form of fluoride as found in toothpaste. Typically, water is fluoridated with fluorosilicic acid (FSA) or its salt, sodium fluosilicate, collectively referred to as fluorosilicates. In contrast, fluoride in toothpaste is usually in form of simple sodium fluoride salt, NaF.
Here comes a second unpleasant "surprise" for those in lead-piped locations: fluorosilicates have a unique affinity for lead. In fact, lead fluorosilicate is one of the most water-soluble forms of lead. In fact, fluorosilicic acid has been used as a solvent for lead and other heavy metals in metallurgy. In industrial applications, chemical engineers rely on this acid to remove surface lead from leaded-brass machine parts.
Research shows what happens when we mix it all up
What happens when fluorosilicates in water pass through lead-containing pipes and metal fixtures? Not surprisingly, the fluorosilicates extract high levels of soluble lead from leaded-brass metal parts (researchers from the Environmental Quality Institute of the University of North Carolina-Asheville performed this actual experiment).
In research published in the scientific journal Neurotoxicology, researchers found that the mixture of the two chemicals: disinfectant (whether chlorine or chloramine) with fluorosilicic acid has a drastically increased potency, leaching amazingly high quantities of lead.
Where does this lead go? Into our drinking water and right on into our bodies, where they wreak havoc by poisoning our heart, kidneys and blood, causing irreversible neurological damage and impairing reproductive function.
North Carolina researchers concluded that the supposedly innocuous - and purportedly beneficial - quantities of fluoride added to drinking water may, in fact, precipitate a cascade of serious health problems, especially when chloramines and lead pipes are added into the mix.
Do we even need fluoride in tap water?
The mixture of chloramine and fluorosilicates in drinking water causes extensive leaching of lead. We cannot dispense with water disinfection - everybody acknowledges this. Thus, chlorine and chloramine are probably here to stay for some time. On the other hand, fluoride, or, specifically, water fluoridation with fluorosilicates, is quite dispensable.
But wait - isn't fluoride the miracle chemical that improves dental health?
Well, yes and no. Much of what is publicized today in caries prevention programs worldwide is derived from the theories generated in the 1950s and '60s, when water fluoridation was actively promoted. As we now know, the main benefits of fluoride for dental health are derived from surface application on the teeth, not from ingestion.
In fact, ingestion of fluoride causes dental fluorosis, a range of adverse health effects that includes mottling, pitting, and weakening of the teeth. These risks are especially significant for infants and young children. In the U.S. and worldwide, about 30 percent of children who drink fluoridated water experience dental fluorosis. In 2006, the American Dental Association (ADA) issued an "Interim Guidance on Fluoride Intake for Infants and Young Children." ADA recommended that in areas where fluoride is added to tap water, parents should consider using fluoride-free bottled water to reconstitute concentrated or powdered infant formula to avoid excess fluoride.
According to the latest research, the anti-caries activity of fluoride is due to topical effects, which supports the value of fluoride-containing toothpaste to dental health. There is clear evidence that fluoride dental products significantly reduce the incidence of cavities. In contrast, a substantial and growing body of peer-reviewed science suggests that ingesting fluoride in tap water does not provide any additional dental benefits other than those offered by fluoride toothpaste and may present serious health risks.
To learn more about fluoride health effects, read the recent report by EWG.
The message: Don't assess chemicals in isolation
The lesson here is straightforward: it is completely unscientific to simply toss any chemical into the drinking water on the premises that this chemical might provide some benefits. The real question is: what would be the effect of this chemical given what else is going on with the water system? In case of fluoridation and chloramines, what emerges at the end of the pipe (our faucets!) is a potentially highly hazardous mixture of fluorosilicates, lead, and residual levels of disinfectants.
To protect the health of my family today, I can buy a water filter to remove heavy metals and disinfection byproducts from my drinking water with a simple pitcher filter. But to protect the health of the entire nation, we really need to consider if our current methods of water treatment can withstand scientific scrutiny, or whether they should be re-assessed so as to provide safe, healthy tap water to all Americans.
Uh, I learned a long time ago that one should never mix chlorine ("bleach") with ammonia because it creates a toxic gas. Is there a difference if it is in water?
Chloramine not only leaches lead from pipes and brass fittings, it can also cause respiratory, digestive and skin distress. I had terrible eczema which neither my dermatologist nor my allergist could diagnose the cause of. Only after I stopped using our chloraminated tap water did the skin rashes clear up. Please see www.chloramine.org for more information.
Thank you for this very informative and important article. I would like to dispute one statement - "chloramine is not unacceptable in itself". This statement is not true! Chloramine causes major health problems in people when their water system switches from chlorine to chloramine.Symptoms cover the gamut from respiratory irritation,(mimicking allergies and asthma)digestive irritation,(mimicking indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome)and direct skin irritation creating severe eczema. People who experience these symptoms have no problem with chlorinated water! Chloramine cannot be adequately filtered out using an inexpensive filter.
Leading scientists are finding the byproducts of chlorine are not nearly as bad as the byproducts from chloramine.There are other alternatives to water disinfection!
Please look at the website, www.chloramine.org, to learn more about the havoc chloramine is directly causing to humans, the environment and the infrastructure.
Thank you very much for your email, Linda! Yes, indeed, I agree that the debate on chlorine vs. chloramine is far from settled - and potential for severe respiratory toxicity definitely should be addressed. Thanks for the work you are doing on this issue.
Thank you for this informative article on chloramine. There is one phrase in there, however, that is dead wrong: "....chloramine is not unacceptable in and of itself." Since chloramine replaced chlorine in my water in 4/06 I have not been able to use my water due to getting skin, respiratory and digestive symptoms. I shower at a YMCA in a nearby town that still uses chlorine and use spring water at home for everything else except to wash my hands (drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, face washing).
I am not alone. I am aware of 320 other people in my water district who have suffered from one or more of the same symptoms that I did before I removed myself from exposure to my tap water since our water district switched over to chloramine. Those, like me, that went to the considerable expense and inconvenience to remove themselves from exposure to their chloraminated tap water (50-60) saw a complete reduction of their symptoms.
Because municipal water systems all over the USA are switching over to chloramine, we are hearing from people all over the country who live in those chloraminated water systems who also have the same symptoms we have here.
This is no joke and I wish EWG would get it already.
Hello Ellen
Your comments have been very helpful. I added information in the post on chloramine toxicity - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
THREE CHEERS FOR EWG!!! However, I believe the statement: "Here comes a second unpleasant 'surprise' for those in lead-piped locations: fluorosilicates have a unique affinity for lead." could be misleading.
Marc Edwards' 2004 testimony on DC water lead problems did not exonerate new homes constructed with plastic service lines and copper interior plumbing joined with lead-free solder. Seriously high lead water levels were found in new homes where the only source of lead would have been so-called "lead-free" brass water meters and/or chrome-plated brass faucets. In fact, so-called lead-free brass can have as much as 8% lead in it.
By the way, there may be as many as several hundreds of million brass faucets and meters in homes, offices and schools.
Thank you very much for the correction you made about the health effects of chloramine in tap water. There was one health effect that you neglected to mention, which is as common as the skin and respiratory effects, and that is digestive effects. People have anything from stomach aches to full blown irritable bowel symptoms. A woman from my water district reported to us that her son was having such severe stomach cramping that it had kept him out of school for a month. After several invasive tests that showed nothing was wrong (endoscopy, colonoscopy, etc. etc.) he was put on a medication that eased the cramping enough for him to to go to school. After talking with me she made sure that no chloraminated water was going into his mouth. He brushed his teeth with spring water, she cooked with spring water, made sure that tea and juice from concentrate was made with spring water, and he drank spring water. He brought spring water to school and drank that instead of the chloraminated tap water. Withing a few days of doing all this he got 100% better and stopped taking the stomach medication. About a week after that, because of habit, she inadvertently cooked rice with unfiltered tap water and all his symptoms cam roaring back but quickly left as that was the only exposure he had to chloraminated water.
This is typical of people with digestive symptoms. If it's the chloramine causing them, they resolve rapidly after stoppong exposure to chloraminated tap water. It is also true with respiratory and skin symptoms unless they are moderate to severe and the chloraminated tap water has really done some damage over time. In that case it takes longer. But everyone got better when they stopped using the chloraminated tap water. This is true in VT and also true in CA - our citizen groups have documented this.
The following are excerpts from HEALTH CANADA statements regarding fluoride intake. There should be no doubt after reading their published information; serious health implications are related to ingesting fluoride, especially as it pertains to artificially induced fluoride environments. Fluoride is responsible for progressive, damaging, and debilitating effects, owing to a disease known as Fluorosis:
Children ingest fluorides…develop dental fluorosis...white areas and brown stains appear on their teeth…fluoride damages tooth enamel resulting in tooth pain and, problems with chewing. Fluorides lead to Skeletal Fluorosis - A progressive disease in which bones increase in density and become more brittle. Symptoms include pain, stiff joints, difficulty in moving, deformed bones and a greater risk of bone fractures.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/alt_formats/pacrb-dgapcr/pdf/iyh-vsv/environ/fluor-eng.pdf
Society Against Artificially Fluoridated Environments - "SAAFE" - Speak Against Artificially Fluoridated Environments.
The term “chloramine” as applied to drinking water disinfection needs to be explained.
(1) It is a general word applicable to products created by combining chlorine with ammonia under unspecified conditions;
(2) The ammonia can be in liquid form such as ammonium hydroxide or as a dry gas;
(3) The chlorine can be a dry gas or as aqueous liquid hypochlorite (“bleach”) or as a dry solid such as calcium or sodium hypochlorite;
(4) Whatever the sources of ammonia and chlorine may be, aqueous reaction product “chloramine” may have one, two, or three chlorine atoms bound to nitrogen...designated respectively “mono-chloramine” “di-chloramine” and “tri-chloramine”;
(5) Under some conditions an organic substance present may react to form some species of organic chloramine;
(6) The desired drinking water disinfectant chloramine is primarily mono-chloramine with a small amount of di-chloramine present;
(7) However this is not purchased from a supplier as a well-defined product, it is produced in the water plant generally by adding ammonia to water already chlorinated to some concentration level that may vary in concentration at the point and time of ammonia injection;
(8) It is not impossible that excess ammonia is injected.
How this affects extraction of lead from brass plumbing fixtures:
(9) Lead in "lead-free" brass is not distributed as a solute in copper, it is present in nodules;
(10) This in itself could foster galvanic corrosion;
(11) However, excess ammonia from production of chloramine could attack the copper in
brass thereby exposing lead nodules to fluosilicic acid derivative corrosion.
Mike
MIKE: Has the Maas. Coplan, et al 2007 lab study been augmented by any field tests yet? I recall this was to be a second phase of the project and would be a valuable addition to the evidence.
I note that the MAC(maximum allowable concentration) of lead in drinking water across North America is typically 10 ppb. The Maas, Coplan, et al study showed the CA-induced levels were about 10 times higher than the MAC and the CA+F induced levels were 90 times greater than the MAC.
What has the District of Columbia done to address the excessive lead levels in its drinking water?
The Washington Dc situation was so much worse then mentioned in the article as the skyrocketing lead levels were discovered in 2000 as part of the every 3 year lead testing. They hid the data from the public until it leaked out in 2003 and they fired the leaker Seema Bhat a inspector quality control professional. Marc Edwards also was testing severe corrosion problems in Dc at the same time and verified the horrific lead levels by testing for 6 months with graduate students thinking he had a contract to be paid for the efforts. He was not paid and the cover up just grew from there. The CDC did a study based upon 201 children who had been drinking filtered or bottled water up to a year after their exposures ended. Blood lead levels decrease by half every 30 days after exposure ends so they tested fine. That is like testing a DUI a week after the arrest. Meaningless.
Chloramines unleash corrosion and lead leaching of H2SiF6 totally out of control even without lead pipes. old brass is often 30% lead and lead free is 8% lead and old solder 50%. The fools in DC removed Lead lateral supplies with lead on either end with no dielectric connects which made the problem worse. So 100 million was spent to worsen the problem which was predictable. Could they be more foolish? Maas 2007 actually he had tested 150,000 homes proving field lead levels in many homes. Copelan 2007 also shows the mechanism of more lead in children in fluoridated cities with H2SiF6 as the Masters Coplan Dartmouth study showed in the 90s. This is all about PH control and if slightly too much ammonia is used very evil things happen immediately.
Listen the the 11 EPA Professional unions who asked congress to halt fluoridation and a goal of ZERO just like other cumulative toxins arsenic and lead. Fluoridation was was industry polluter science just like tobacco , asbestous faked science. The sad thing is it has no ingested benefit except huge dental fluorosis damage creating a mega cash cow for cosmetic dentists.
Use a vitamin c shower filter to remove chlorine and chloramines. it will remove close to 100%. i also add a quarter gram or vitamin c per gallon of drinking water to deactivate chlorine/chloramines.
Thanks for the enlightening article. It looks like whenever we try to remove something from our water, we invariably add something else, usually more problematic substance, into the water.
But disinfecting water with toxic chemicals is unlikely to stop unless a safer method has been found. So the best bet is to filter our own water as what this article has suggested.