Scientists identify strange chemical in US drinking water

Is there something in the water?

The answer seems to be yes. For four decades, scientists have struggled to identify a mysterious “phantom” chemical found in drinking water in the US. All they knew was that it was a byproduct of the disinfectant chloramine, which is often used in water treatment.

Now the mystery seems solved. As described in a study published in the journal ScienceThe culprit is what the authors have identified as 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 shares similarities with other water-based chemicals regulated for being toxic, scientists do not yet know whether the chlornitramide anion is harmful for humans to consume, and are therefore calling for further research into the byproduct immediately.

“We need to investigate it. We don’t know the toxicity,” lead author Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas, told The Washington Post. “This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we’ve identified it, we can delve into how toxic this thing is.”

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

Chloramines, which are derived from the combination of chlorine and ammonia, have been used in the US to effectively treat water for almost a century, and are also used in other countries, including Australia.

But as with many chemical disinfectants, byproducts are created that themselves must be carefully managed. These form when the chloramines interact with organic substances in the water, such as harmful germs, and can decompose over time to form even more types of byproducts. The newly identified chloronitramide anion is one of these decomposition offshoots.

Still, the advantage of using chloramines was that they actually allow lower concentrations of byproducts than we do know more harmful – and in some cases carcinogenic – than chlorine, the most popular disinfectant for treating water.

Until more research is done, the verdict on the safety of chlornitramide anion is known, 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 concerned about my tap water,” says Oliver Jones, professor of chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, which was not involved. in the study, said in a statement.

“The question is not – is it something toxic or not – because everything is toxic in the right amount, even water. The question is whether the substance is toxic in the amount we are exposed to,” he continued. “I think the answer here is probably not.”

In any case, we should probably be more concerned all those microplastics we suck.

More about water: Nearly half of US tap water is laced with toxic ‘Forever Chemicals,’ scientists find