Do You Know?

I honestly didn’t know this.

Water utilities used to rely mostly on chlorine to disinfect water. The problem is that in long pipe systems, chlorine can dissipate before the water reaches the end of the line.

So many utilities switched to chloramine, which is chlorine combined with ammonia. It stays stable longer in the pipes and doesn’t have the strong taste or smell people associate with chlorine.

What surprised me is what happens next.

When disinfectants like chlorine or chloramine react with organic material in the water, they create disinfection byproducts. Things like trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids.

Those byproducts are what many studies link to increased cancer risk with long-term exposure.

That’s why you can look up your ZIP code on public databases and see water that meets legal standards but still contains compounds you probably wouldn’t choose if given the option.

I’m not saying the water system is evil or that people should panic. I am saying most of us have never actually been shown what’s in our water or how it gets there.

I didn’t know either.

If you’re curious, go to https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/, type in your ZIP code, and look at your own report. I did it for 80234, and seeing the list was enough to make me ask a lot more questions.

My husband is a licensed master plumber, and once I started asking him about this, it turned into a much bigger conversation about how water is treated, what those byproducts do over time, and what options actually exist to reduce them.

If you want help understanding what’s in your local water, what any of it actually means, or what people do about it in real life, you’re welcome to reach out.

We’re local. We’re happy to explain. No pressure — just information and options.