You turn on the kitchen faucet and you can smell it. Or you get in the shower and the steam carries it. That faint swimming pool smell in your Phoenix tap water is chlorine, and it is there on purpose.
Phoenix city water is treated with chlorine or chloramines before it leaves the treatment plant. This is a good thing. Chlorine kills bacteria and other pathogens that would otherwise make you sick. Without disinfection, city water would be dangerous.
The problem is what happens after the chlorine does its job. When chlorine and chloramines react with the organic matter that naturally exists in water, they form a group of chemicals called disinfection byproducts. And those byproducts are linked to cancer.
Chlorine vs Chloramines: What Is the Difference
Chlorine is the original disinfectant used in municipal water treatment. It is effective and relatively cheap. The downside is that chlorine dissipates as it travels through pipes, which means by the time water reaches homes at the far end of a water distribution system, the chlorine level may be too low to prevent bacterial growth.
Chloramines are a combination of chlorine and ammonia. They last longer in the pipes, which makes them useful for large distribution systems like Phoenix. The tradeoff is that chloramines are harder to remove than straight chlorine. They require different filtration media to filter out effectively.
Phoenix uses chloramines as its primary disinfectant in many parts of the distribution system. This means standard carbon filters that work fine for straight chlorine may not fully remove chloramines from your water.
What Disinfection Byproducts Are and Why They Matter
When chlorine or chloramines react with naturally occurring organic matter in water, they form compounds called disinfection byproducts. The two main groups are:
Trihalomethanes (THMs) including chloroform. Long-term exposure to trihalomethanes in drinking water is linked to bladder cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer. The EPA regulates THMs, but at levels health researchers consider elevated risk.
Haloacetic acids (HAAs). This group of five chemicals forms when chlorine reacts with organic material. HAAs are linked to an increased risk of cancer with long-term exposure. They are also classified as possible human carcinogens.
Phoenix water has been detected with both of these categories of disinfection byproducts. They pass federal standards, but they are present. The EWG has flagged Phoenix water for elevated levels of both chlorite and haloacetic acids compared to their independent health guidelines.
How Chlorine Affects Your Daily Life
Beyond the cancer question, chlorine and chloramines in your water affect things you deal with every day.
The taste and smell of your water. That flat, chemical taste in Phoenix tap water comes from chlorine. Even at legal levels, it affects how water tastes and how food and coffee taste when made with tap water.
Your skin and hair. Chlorine is a drying agent. It strips the natural oils from your skin and hair. If you have ever felt your skin dry out or your hair feel brittle after a shower in Phoenix, the hard water gets most of the blame but the chlorine is contributing too. People with eczema or sensitive skin often notice a clear difference after getting filtered shower water.
Your home's water-using appliances. Chlorine slowly degrades rubber seals, gaskets, and certain types of piping over time. Chloramines are even more aggressive than chlorine on rubber components. Water softeners that filter out chlorine first protect the softening resin inside from degradation, which is why our Softener with Chlorine Filtration adds a carbon stage before the softening resin.
How to Remove Chlorine and Chloramines
For whole-home chlorine removal, the gold standard is a granular activated carbon filter installed on the main water line. Carbon is extremely effective at adsorbing chlorine. The surface of carbon is covered in microscopic pores that chlorine bonds to as water passes through.
For chloramines, you need either catalytic carbon or a two-stage approach. Catalytic carbon has an enhanced surface structure that breaks the chloramine bond more effectively than standard carbon. This is why we use coconut shell activated carbon in our filtration systems. Coconut shell carbon has a higher surface area and more effective pore structure than coal-based carbon, making it better at capturing both chlorine and chloramines.
For drinking water, a reverse osmosis system provides an additional stage of protection after carbon filtration, removing any remaining chemical traces and producing water that tastes clean and fresh.
Does Boiling Water Remove Chlorine
Yes, boiling water will evaporate chlorine. But it will not remove chloramines, arsenic, lead, PFAS, or any of the other dissolved contaminants in Phoenix water. Boiling also concentrates some minerals, making hard water slightly harder. It is not a practical solution for a household.
Want to stop tasting and smelling chlorine in your Phoenix home? Fill out the form for a free quote. Our whole-home systems with coconut shell carbon filtration remove chlorine and chloramines at the main line so every tap in your house gets clean, filtered water. Serving Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Scottsdale, Peoria, Glendale, Surprise, Phoenix, and the entire valley.