Warning: A potentially carcinogenic new chemical is being found in tap water in tens of millions of homes

A potentially cancer-causing chemical has been discovered in the drinking water consumed by tens of millions of Americans.

The compound is known as chlornitramide anion and is released when a popular disinfectant called chloramine (a mixture of chlorine and ammonia) breaks down naturally.

About a third of U.S. homes are supplied with chloramine-treated water, which equates to about 113 million people.

It’s not clear what effect the new compound has on humans, but researchers say its similarity to other toxic chemicals “warrants further investigation to assess the risk to public health.”

Julian Fairey, lead author of the study and professor at the University of Arkansas, said: ‘It is well known that when we disinfect drinking water, some toxicity occurs. Chronic toxicity, actually.

‘A certain number of people could develop cancer from drinking water in the coming decades. But we haven’t yet identified which chemicals cause this toxicity.

‘An important goal of our work is to identify these chemicals and the reaction pathways that produce them.’

If people are concerned about exposure to chlornitramide anion, Fairey told DailyMail.com that “a home filter (i.e. a Brita filter or a refrigerator filter) will help remove this, although we don’t know for sure.”

But he warns that boiling drinking water could actually increase the concentration of chlornitramide anion and that it is “not as alive as bacteria that could be killed by boiling.”

Water companies often use a series of water treatment steps, with filtration and disinfection being the final processes before the water is stored in tanks or reservoirs.

Common types of chemical disinfectants include chlorine, chloramine or chlorine dioxide.

Chloramine is preferred in many parts of the world for its properties.

It is less volatile than chlorine, meaning it stays in the water longer and provides longer lasting protection.

It also has a less pronounced taste and odor than chlorine, which can have a bleach-like odor and taste in water.

One disadvantage of water treated with chloramine is that it has a more corrosive effect on pipes and plumbing.

According to American Water, chloramine has been used to treat water in many states for decades, and Denver, Colorado, for example, has been using chloramines since 1917.

Other countries with chloraminated drinking water include Scotland, Australia and Canada.

Chloramine is added to water by introducing ammonia into water that already contains chlorine, causing a chemical reaction between the two substances to form chloramine; this process is known as ‘chloramination’.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that water with chloramine levels up to 4 milligrams per liter is safe for drinking, cooking, bathing and other household uses.

Fairey noted that researchers had known about the new compound for decades but were unable to identify it.

He himself started unraveling the mystery ten years ago.

“It’s a very stable, low molecular weight chemical,” Fairey said.

‘It is a very difficult chemical to find. The hardest part was identifying it and proving it was the structure we said it was.”

Whether chlornitramide anion is linked to cancer or poses other adverse health risks will be assessed in future work by academics and regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA has not yet responded to the recent findings.

“Even if it’s not toxic,” Fairey explained, “finding it can help us understand the pathways for the formation of other compounds, including toxins. If we know how something comes into existence, we may be able to control it.’

Whether chlornitramide anion will be linked to cancer or pose other adverse health risks will be assessed in future work by academics and regulatory agencies.

A study published this fall also delved into the toxicity of drinking water.

Researchers from SimpleLab in California analyzed drinking water from the San Francisco Bay Area – including 100 bottled water samples, 603 tap water samples, and 111 samples of treated domestic water (water filtered at home using a Brita filter).

These included bottles labeled spring, artesian, mineral, spring and purified water and were purchased in July 2022. They did not specify which brands of water were purchased, but they said they were representative of the choices in California.

The homes tested were those that purchased a water quality test kit from SimpleLab.

They analyzed it for contaminants and the results of the study were published in the journal The public library of Kenniswater.

The team found that approximately 53 percent of bottled water, 61 percent of home-treated tap water, and 98 percent of untreated tap water were linked to at least one health problem.

The most common pollutant they found were the byproducts of chlorine used to disinfect water, called trihalomethanes. These were found in all three water sources, but were highest in tap water.

Consuming trihalomethanes in large amounts has been linked to developmental delays, reproductive effects, liver damage and an increased risk of cancer.

Other contaminants the researchers found in the water tested included heavy metals such as lead.

Lead usually enters the water supply through outdated pipes or infrastructure. It was found in 30 percent of household treated tap water and in 51 percent of tap water samples.

Frequent exposure to lead can cause neurological, developmental, learning and behavioral problems, usually in children.

Climate change, aging infrastructure and pollution all contribute to people’s current struggle to secure pristine drinking water, but this has mainly been studied in tap water.

In response, Americans have turned to bottled water. Total amounts used increased from 28 gallons per person per year in 2010 to 45 gallons per person per year in 2020.

If you are served by a public water system, the CDC notes that it is possible to find annual water quality reports online that show the type of disinfectant used, the levels present, and disinfection byproducts if the levels are not within a safe range.