We do not know of an International Standard for free chlorine levels in irrigation water but we do know that most States in the US require wastewater treatment plants to neutralize TOTAL chlorine levels before discharging water into the environment and that wastewater treatment facilities must test for total chlorine residuals in their effluent streams on a regular basis to make sure the chlorine concentrations stay virtually non-existent.

Why worry about chlorine in the environment?

If allowed to enter the environment chlorine can and will effectively kill or damage biological organisms that it comes in contact with. In great enough concentrations chlorine will wipe out all plant life in a body of water as well as any animals or fish in the water.

We use chlorine to render safe (i.e. KILL) biological contaminants in our drinking water and if released into a natural habitat the chlorine will render safe (i.e. KILL) any and all plant an animal life until it loses its effectiveness.

Testing for free & total chlorine?

Whether you prefer test strips, wet chemistry kits or a water testing meter… you have plenty of choices when it comes to testing for both free and total chlorine levels in drinking and treated waste water.

COLUMBIA — Be careful what you drink, because you might be drinking it again.

Chlorides are creeping into Columbia’s water supply wells in the Missouri River bottoms at McBaine, indicating that treated wastewater, once funneled far from the wells, is finding its way back into the city’s supply.

The chlorides themselves aren’t harmful, said Tom O’Connor, an environmental engineer who sits on the city’s Environment and Energy Commission as well as the Water and Light Advisory Board. Columbia’s drinking water currently meets all Environmental Protection Agency standards. However, the presence of chlorides does show that other potentially harmful contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals, could stay circulating in the water supply. ( source )

If nothing else, the above information should tell anyone who gets their drinking water from a well that they need to test the water quality of their well water periodically.

Things to remember about well water:

+ Periods of heavy rainfall change water table levels and can affect the water quality in your well.

+ Periods of drought change water table levels and can affect the water quality in your well.

+ The addition of new wells to the area increases the demand for water and often changes water table levels.

+ Responsibility for the quality of water coming out of a well lies solely with the well owner.