Previously Unknown Chemical Found in US Tap Water

It took decades for scientists to ID chloronitramide anion; now they need to see how toxic it is
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2024 3:04 PM CST
Updated Nov 24, 2024 11:10 AM CST
Previously Unknown Chemical Found in US Tap Water
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/by sonmez)

Some ice for your chloronitramide anion? No, that's not a libation you'd find at the Tatooine cantina in Star Wars, but a new chemical by-product in our tap water that's finally been IDed, reports the Washington Post. Research published Thursday in the journal Science notes that US drinking water is often treated with chloramine, a chlorine-ammonia mixture that kills bacteria and helps keep people from getting sick from the water they drink. However, as the chloramine decomposes, it results in the chloronitramide anion residue, and scientists now say the next task is to find out how harmful the by-product may be.

"This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we have identified it, we can delve into how toxic ... this thing [is]," environmental engineer Julian Fairey, the study's lead author, tells the Post. Researchers have known since the '70s that germ-killing chlorine added to the water supply could create toxic by-products when it reacted with organic compounds in the water, with potential ties to various cancers, miscarriages, and low birth weights, per CNN. A switch was soon made to chloramine disinfectants, which didn't seem to produce dangerous by-products to the same extent. However, there are still by-products in the mix, including what Fairey calls the "outstanding mystery compound" that was first noticed in the '80s and until now hadn't been identified.

The study notes that more than 113 million Americans drink tap water that potentially has chloronitramide anion in it, or about a third of the nation. "Further investigation of this previously unidentified product of chloramine decomposition will be needed before EPA can determine if regulatory action is warranted," an EPA spokesperson tells the Post. Experts say, however, not to freak out, and that your tap water is still likely OK to drink. "Tap water is more regulated, with more people working on it, than bottled water," Lisa Ragain of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council tells the Post, which notes that even bottled H2O has some level of contaminants in it. Still concerned? Study co-author David Wahman tells CNN that "any kind of carbon-based filter" in your fridge would help, as would something like a Brita filter on your faucet or in a water pitcher. (More discoveries stories.)

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