A Chlorine Shower: How To Avoid It, And What You Need To Know
The cheapest shower filter on Google Products right now is a single, $10 filter – as advertised, it snatches up sulfur and chlorine in the water, keeping these chemicals from damaging skin and hair. However, the most costly captures chlorine, organic carbon compounds, and volatile organic compounds – for $379.90.
A bit of a gap, there. But in reality, though, what do all these claims mean? Do they mean anything substantial, or do they just act as a lure for customers? Or is there a real meaning to them?
Total Organic Carbon (TOCs)
Generally, TOCs are used generally to evaluate water quality. It is the total count of carbon in the sample that is not in an inorganic compound. What this means is that if your TOC count is above normal, you could potentially be getting doused with pesticides, detergents, or decaying plant matter. Mostly, municipal water systems succeed in keeping the TOC content as low as possible, although some of these chemicals can get through.
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds)
Benzene or trichloroethylene in the water make up the measure known as VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds. Trichloroethylene, for instance, is used to clean septic tanks – an accidental spill or an inattentive worker might have let it into the water system. Gasoline and oil leaks might enter into the system through pipes and lead to you having benzene in your shower water. However, these occurrences are generally isolated to old industrial and agricultural regions that use strong chemicals, but water tests might be wise.
Chlorination
The classic water treatment. This is usually used to treat and disinfect water at treatment plants, and to make it suitable for reuse down the line. It’s one of the most effective basic disinfectants, and if you’ve ever swam in a swimming pool, you’ve been exposed to a form of it – you might also have noticed a bit of irritation on your skin and damage to your hair if you stayed in for a while: that’s the chlorine at work. The good news is that the chlorine is easy to treat – even the most basic of charcoal filters remove chlorine from the water supply.
Most often, municipal water sources filter TOCs and VOCs very well – paying $400 to remove harmless trace amounts borders on wasteful. But even if chlorine was your main worry, the amount in the public supply isn’t enough to truly harm you – only frustrate you if you take special care of your hair. However, if you do feel that a filter is absolutely required and you just can’t shake your worries, a cheap $60 filter will do a number on those, as well as restore pH balance and remove heavy metals.
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