Municipal water treatment methods

[triscuit]

May have some interesting consequences for those of us who use tap water for our tanks...

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/07/132743638/disinfectant-to-clean-water-has-problems-of-its-own

[fischfan13]

Great find Mel!
Something else, and at possibly a greater extent, to worry about in our tap water.

[chris1932]

Many municipal water treatment systems are switching to chlorine dioxide Clo2

[Afrabat]

Great just another thing to worry about it good ol U.S.A. LOL thanks for bringing that information forward.

[Heyguy74]

Great just another thing to worry about it good ol U.S.A. LOL thanks for bringing that information forward.


At least they test and treat the water here. There are a lot of other places that do nothing to the water.

[chris1932]

The nice thing about Cl02 is that its breakdown is quick, under UV light or airation the chlorine is gone in seconds. If a made solution if left to sit in the sun it will be acidic water with a high conducttivity in an hour. There are numerous ways that it is made

1) electrocatylitic conversion of sodium chlorite and water
2) two precursors, sodium chlorite, sulfuric acid and water
3) Three precursors, sodium chlorite, hypochlorite, sulfuric acid and water

In some instances sulfuric is substituted with muriatic

There is always a slight drop in pH and the conductivity goes up slightly
Bear in mind that a little goes a long way. So in municipal water you never see the change.
The benefits are that Clo2 has good penetrant properties so for encysted organisms like legonella and guirdia its one of the only oxydizers that will do the job.

Many of the leafy vegitables you eat from stores are cleaned in process with Cl02 because of the difficulty in cleaning.