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A Hundred Years of Water Chlorination fter a workout in the gym, a training run or cycle, a game of squash or a mountain hike, the thought of a refreshing drink of cool, clear water is often uppermost in our minds. Adequately quenching that thirst is a vital aspect of maintaining fitness, health and even beauty. But how pure is the water we drink and are the chemicals used to purify it serving paradoxically to contaminate it? Unless we are fortunate enough to live in an OW a 'f a unpolluted rural environment collecting our own water (or have affixed some type of water purifier to our tap), the peculiar odour and taste of the liquid in our glass stand as persistent reminders that the water we drink contains chemicals. Generally, the most noticeable of these is chlorine. We have come to accept the presence of chlorine in our drinking water as one of the necessary, though slightly unpleasant aspects of maintaining community health. Somewhere along the way, most of us have learned that a number of contagious diseases such as typhoid and cholera have been virtually eradicated by filtering and chlorinating our municipal water supplies. The crucial question which e e e 2 many of us never learned to ask, however, is whether | S | V \ N S chlorinated water represents a health hazard in its own right. e In what follows we shall urge that in the light of recent research on the subject, it is clear that water treated with chlorine should be regarded as potentially detrimental to the health of the community. WHAT IS CHLORINE AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Anctralian hirentenarv vear 1082 marked the Second We have come to accept the presence of chlorine in our drinking water as one of the necessary, though slightly unpleasant aspects of maintaining community health. Somewhere along the way, most of us have learned that a number of contagious diseases such as typhoid and cholera have been virtually eradicated by filtering and chlorinating our municipal water supplies. The crucial question which many of us never learned to ask, however, is whether chlorinated water represents a health hazard in its own right. In what follows we shall urge that in the light of recent research on the subject, it is clear that water treated with chlorine should be regarded as potentially detrimental to the health of the community. WHAT IS CHLORINE AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Australian bicentenary year, 1988, marked the centenary of water chlorination. In 1888 a patent on chlorination of water was granted to Dr. Albert R. Leeds, professor of chemistry at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hobokin, New Jersey. Professor Leeds showed that chlorine could be used as the basis of a method of disinfection to control pathogens responsible for waterborne diseases. In the following year the first chlorination of a public water supply by John F, Ashton, Chief Chemist Australasian Food Research Laboratories and Dr. Ronald S, Laura, Professor in Education, University of Newcastle, and Chairman, Sports Medicine and Health Education Committee, Hunter Academy of Sport, NSW. APRIL-MAY 1992 26°NEXUS