Scientists identify a strange chemical in drinking water across the United States

Is there something in the water?

The answer seems to be yes. For four decades, scientists have been trying hard to identify a mysterious “phantom” chemical found in drinking water across the United States. All they knew was that it was a byproduct of chloramine, a disinfectant commonly used in water treatment.

Now it seems that the mystery has been solved. As described in detail wa study published in the journal Sciencethe cause is what the authors identified as the chlornitramide anion, a chemical previously unknown to science that is a compound of one chlorine atom, two nitrogen atoms, and two oxygen atoms.

But the implications of the discovery are unclear. Although it has similarities to other waterborne chemicals that are subject to toxicity regulations, scientists do not yet know whether the chlornitramide anion is harmful to humans, which is why they are calling for immediate further research on the byproduct.

“We need to investigate this. We don’t know the toxicity,” says lead author Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas. he said Washington Post.. “It took 40 years to identify this compound, and now that we have identified it, we can find out how toxic this substance is.”

None of this is necessarily a cause for concern. Contaminants are unavoidable in drinking water, and if kept in low enough concentrations, they are generally harmless.

Chloramines, which are created by combining chlorine and ammonia, have been used to effectively treat water for almost a century in the US, as well as in other countries, including Australia.

However, as with many chemical disinfectants, it creates byproducts that must be carefully managed. They form when chloramines interact with organic substances in the water, such as harmful germs, and can break down over time, creating even more types of byproducts. The newly identified chlornitramide anion is one such degradation branch.

Still, the advantage of using chloramines was that they actually promoted lower concentrations of byproducts than we did know considered harmful – and in some cases carcinogenic – than chlorine, the most popular disinfectant for water treatment.

Until further research is conducted, the verdict on the safety of chlornitramide anion will remain in place, but many experts are optimistic.

“I agree that a toxicology study of this anion would be useful now that we know its identity, but I’m not too worried about my tap water,” Oliver Jones, a professor of chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, who was not involved in the study, – wrote in the statement.

“The question is not whether it is something toxic or not – because everything is toxic in the right amount, even water. The question is whether the substance is toxic in the amounts to which we are exposed,” he continued. “I think the answer here is probably no.”

If anything, we should probably be more worried about it all these microplastics we absorb.

More about water: Scientists have found that nearly half of U.S. tap water contains toxic “forever chemicals.”