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How to Filter Water for Gut Health and Fermentation

How to filter water to remove chlorine and chloramine
How to Filter Water for health and wellness
How to Filter Water for health and wellness

Removing chlorine and chloramine from water is good for our gut health and well-being. It is also important for fermentation. Here’s the best way to filter water for clean drinking and fermenting.

Water is a subject that is near and dear to my heart for the following reasons:

  1. I live in an urban centre, and my city water source is treated with chloramine. Cholramine is very stable, and isn’t removed by most water filters.
  2. I started my fermenting journey to deal with a number of health issues related to poor gut health. As it turned out, filtering my drinking water played a big part in improving the health of my microbiome.

Are you interested in learning how to filter water? Read on!

The goal of urban water treatment

No one wants to hear that their water source was contaminated with E. Coli, parasites, or other nasty microorganisms. So urban water is usually filtered and treated to prevent the spread of disease.

The best way to ensure that the water is sanitized from the source right through to your kitchen tap is to add chlorine or chloramine. These chemicals are both very effective at killing bacteria and parasites.

Issues with chlorinated and chloraminated water

While it is great to have access to clean and safe drinking water, it is not particularly good for our gut health or fermenting. Here are a few reasons why you might want to filter your water:

  • Using chlorinated water for fermentation will slow or prevent the growth of lactobacteria and yeasts.
  • Chlorine needs to be removed before filling a fish tank, because it can harm the fish.
  • If you are concerned about your microbiome, then you probably shouldn’t be drinking tap water without filtering it first.

Chlorinated water versus chloraminated water

It’s really important to know whether your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine. It will make a big difference in how you need to filter your water.

Chlorinated Water

This is probably what you think you have… however, many cities are switching to the much more stable chloramine for water treatment.

Chlorine is easy to remove:

  • it will evaporate within 12 hours of sitting out on your kitchen counter
  • boils away in 20 minutes
  • and is removed by most water filters

So if you have chlorinated water then rejoice! Your off-the-shelf Brita filter is good enough.  Or better yet, simply buy yourself a few glass pitchers and leave your water out on the counter overnight.

Chloraminated Water

Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia. It is a VERY stable disinfectant.

Unfortunately, itย takes 2-3 days for chloramine to dissipate at room temperature, and nearly 2 hours to boil away.ย  And unlike chlorine, most pass-through water filters won’t get rid of chloramine.

Don’t worry, all is not lost!ย  Here’s how to dechloraminate your water:

  • Throw a few slices of lemon or orange into your water. Citric acid breaks down ammonia in an hour or two.
  • Use a submergedย activated charcoalย filter. (See photo below.)
  • There are a few other methods to remove chloramine. They mostly involve adding extra chemicals or UV light treatment. These aren’t practical for the average urbanite, so I recommend trying one of the above!
How to filter water to remove chlorine and chloramine

Bottled Water

Unless your tap water is unsafe for drinking, I don’t recommend using bottled water for fermenting. Not only does it contribute to plastic pollution, but it’s not always a chlorine-free solution.

In fact, a lot of bottled water is just municipal tap water.

Filed Under: General Fermentation InformationTagged With: Chlorine, Microbiome, Probiotic, Science

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Comments

  1. Robin

    May 20, 2016 at 8:47 am

    I thought that mixing chlorine and ammonia created a poisonous vapor. They must stabilize it somehow. Still, sounds pretty toxic.

    Reply
    • Emillie

      May 20, 2016 at 11:59 am

      There is a bit of chemistry involved… but that doesn’t make it nice to drink!

      Reply
  2. Dasha

    May 10, 2020 at 1:50 am

    Hello Emillie, Just came across your website – really great to have so many good tips in one place. Thank you!

    I’ve looked at charcoal filters you recommended, but they have paused their business for time being. Do you know other reliable suppliers of such/similar filters?

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Emillie

      May 11, 2020 at 10:29 am

      Thanks for reading! It is hard to find things right now… where are you located? You could try kishu: https://kishucharcoal.com/ Cheers!

      Reply
  3. Anonymous

    August 19, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    so helpful!!! Thank you Emillie, i just found your site today and know I will be loving it!

    Reply
    • Emillie

      August 20, 2020 at 9:58 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Virginia Walters

    September 20, 2020 at 6:31 am

    Does bottled water like you buy at walmart have chlorine in it?

    Reply
    • Emillie

      September 20, 2020 at 8:45 am

      There are lots of different brands of bottled water. Some of them are just municipal tap water (like Dasani and Aquafina), some have added chlorine (Dasani), some are filtered. As long as your city/town/well is safe to drink, then it is probably just as clean, safe and pure as bottled water.

      Reply
  5. Robert

    November 3, 2021 at 7:07 pm

    What about bottled distilled water? Could it have chlorine, chloramine, or ammonia? Am I OK drinking it if I use pink Himalayan salt to get trace minerals?

    Reply
    • Emillie

      November 4, 2021 at 9:22 am

      True distilled water doesn’t contain any minerals. It’s fine fermenting, but probably not necessary for drinking unless you don’t have access to safe drinking water. It’s also missing all sorts of minerals, like calcium and magnesium. Cheers!

      Reply

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