chlorine in drinking water?

[Lydia08]

I have lived in a rural area with a private well for my entire life... and just recently moved into a suburban neighborhood with a community well.... talk about change in culture!  Aside from all the other differences I have noticed how much I dislike the tap water here.... when I fill a fresh cup from the tap it smells very strongly of chlorine... if I let it sit for a minute before drinking the smell goes away and I can drink without the nasty taste...

I called to ask what all goes into the water, and they told me it is treated with chlorine... I just don't know how much, but I hate how badly the water stinks!  When the boys take a bath the bathroom stinks so much like chlorine, it smells like we're at the public pool!

What i'd like to know from you all is the details about chlorine....  do I need to look into a filter for my home?  Or bottled drinking water?  Or is it somewhat harmless??

Thanks in advance!

[stik]

A filter won't remove chlorine.  Keeping a pitcher or a re-usable water bottle in the fridge will help alleviate the problem with the taste of your drinking water.  

[homemademomma]

Hmm. I have city water and it is chlorinated. I have lived with both well and city water multiple times, and I have never, ever noticed a chlorine smell or taste. I know there are different chlorine compounds and some smell more strongly than others, but if my water smelled that strongly I would get a home water test or something to make sure the chlorine level isn't too high. Just to be safe.

Just to be clear, though- chlorine is really a fairly safe preservative, and I wouldn't be concerned about drinking chlorinated water. Anyway, don't some people think that chlorine is like a cure all for everything- AIDS, malaria, etc??I think they call it the magic mineral supplement or something. 

[yeahwhat]

I wouldn't be too concerned about chlorine in drinking water.  Keeping a pitcher in the fridge allows it to dissipate since it's fairly volatile.

We have chlorine in our water and I rarely notice it, but I really notice it when I'm visiting my parents.  Either they use a slightly different chlorine there or they use more of it.  Either way, I prefer to use a brita filter when I'm visiting them.

[Snapdragon]

I have some filters for the water in the house we are living in. There is no chlorine here but there is hard water and I like to filter out some of the things in the water-- also I came from a place where our water was excellent so it is a change for me- but not as much as you with the chlorine.  But my filters all say that they filter out chlorine- I would absolutely get one! We have a filter for the kitchen sink, one for the shower, and one for the bath. I got one at a local health food co op, and the other 2 on amazon. I cannot remember the names of the brands right now- sorry! But I think they were the best rated ones on amazon. I think it could make a big difference.  They say right on the packaging that they do filter out chlorine.

[Owen'nZoe]

Where I live now, the chlorine really noticeable, but I did live someplace many years ago where the chlorine was strong like you've described and I hated it! We used to keep a Brita pitcher in the fridge with water. I don't know whether the filter helped, or whether it was mostly just letting the water sit, but it improved the smell and the taste a lot.

[Caneel]

OP - I understand what you mean.  I also grew up on well water and I moved to "town" 20 years ago.  To this day, I still can't get used to the chlorine smell and tasty.  Some community water systems use more chlorine than others.  The town where I live is horrible yet I have no problem drinking the city water in the next town over.

I think it takes 24 hours for chlorine to fully disappear from water.  I know a lot of people that put their tap water in a pitcher and drink from there as opposed to straight from the sink or water dispenser.   We have a water cooler because we drink so much water, my fridge would be full of pitchers.