KEY SUMMARY

Water filters are unreliable when removing chlorine. They may cause more problems than they solve. Filters can contaminate your animals’ water with bacteria, reacted carbon, and chlorine reaction by-products. If you are going to use water filters be sure to change them frequently and don’t trust the “community filter.” If you prefer to avoid filters consider using ShowFresH₂O™ Water Treatment as a safe and effective solution to eliminate chlorine.

 

INTRODUCTION

Chlorine in show water has plagued livestock and horse exhibitors for decades. Nearly everyone has arrived at a show with a healthy animal only to find it not drinking within as little as one day. Since hydration is critical to show animals looking and performing their best, it is little wonder that so many have tried gimmicks to solve the problem.

Water filters have become popular in recent years. Walk through a show barn and you’re sure to find them in showboxes and even hooked up to the water line for community use. But do they work?  Is it possible they may cause just as many problems as they try to solve?

We decided to test the performance of popular filters using ShowFresH₂O™ Chlorine Test Strips. The strips work quickly and easily to test chlorine levels. Simply stir a strip in water for about 30 seconds and compare the color change to the code provided on the bottle.

 

DO FILTERS REMOVE CHLORINE?

For our study we evaluated three popular brands of water hose filters used by livestock and horse exhibitors. They contained activated carbon and/or charcoal as the filtering agent.

We tested the water for chlorine prior to attaching the filter and it contained about 1.0 ppm total chorine (the pink color of the top square is compared to bottle’s indicator reading). This water was actually pretty low in chlorine compared to most city water. It is often about 1-3 ppm, which is comparable to swimming pool water!

We then attached the filters to a water hose and ran water through them at about 1 gallon per minute. The water was tested at different intervals to determine at what point the chlorine was detected again in the water, indicating the filter had failed to remove chlorine.

The data are included in the Appendix below.  Filters A and B did remove some chlorine, but only for about 20 gallons of water. This is for low chlorine levels.  Imagine what it would be like if the chlorine levels were higher?  Filter C failed completely and did not remove chlorine for even a single gallon!

Not shown in the Appendix are the results of testing with Water Filter A with a completely different water source that contained about 2 ppm total chlorine. The filter removed all chlorine from the water up to about 100 gallons. Considering this data with those shown above, it’s clear that filter performance will likely vary from different water sources.

 

CHLORAMINES AND CHLORINE BY-PRODUCTS

The results above are not surprising. Activated carbon filters are known to not work well to remove a class of chlorinated compounds called chloramines and chlorine disinfection by-products. Chloramines are the reaction products of free chlorine with micro-organisms and other organic compounds in drinking water. These are particularly nasty compounds that lead to a very bad pool-smell odor in the water.  In other words, these are the compounds that will make animals not want to drink the water.

 

REACTED CARBON CONTAMINATION

It’s possible that use of a filter may create as many problems as it solves.  Filters don’t actually “filter” chlorine from water. The chlorine instead reacts with the carbon in the filter. The question to consider is “what reactive by-products are produced during this process.” Are these products harmful?  Do these by-products get released into the animals’ water? We are not aware of good data on this topic, but it is certainly known that chlorine reacts with carbon to produce potentially harmful materials. This is why water treatment facilities are naturally concerned with disinfection by-products. These materials can escape the filter and get into animal’s water. Many people will notice black particles (reacted carbon) being released from the filter into the animal’s water…certainly something an exhibitor should avoid!

 

BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION

Filters are also known to be a good source of bacteria which may contaminate your animal’s water. This is no surprise because filters contain carbon and water, which is a terrific recipe for microbial growth. In fact, an EPA study of activated carbon filters found that illness-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella, could grow in filters. These microorganisms were found to be released into the water along with particles of reacted carbon. It’s likely that bacterial growth will be worse as the filter ages, so if you plan to use one be sure to change them often. Never trust the “community filter” at a show.

If you decide to not use filters you can use  ShowFresH₂O™ Water Treatment.  It is scientifically designed to instantly eliminate chlorine AND chloramines from drinking water safely and with no hassle. It will not freeze in the winter like filters. Every production batch is lab verified to remove up to 2 ppm total and free chlorine. One 16 oz. bottle can treat 150 gallons (30 five-gallon buckets). Start your show on the right hoof!

 

APPENDIX – Chlorine Filtration Experiments

Water Filter A

ID #	Gallons Filtered	Chlorine Present?
1	Control – 0 gallons	Yes
2	1 gallon filtered	No
3	3 gallons filtered	No
4	5 gallons filtered	No
5	10 gallons filtered	No
6	20 gallons filtered	Yes
7	40 gallons filtered	Yes

 

Water Filter B

ID #	Gallons Filtered	Chlorine Present?
1	Control – 0 gallons	Yes
2	5 gallons filtered	No
3	20 gallons filtered	Yes
4	100 gallons filtered	Yes

 

Water Filter C

ID #	Gallons Filtered	Chlorine Present?
1	Control – 0 gallons	Yes
2	1 gallon filtered	Yes
3	5 gallons filtered	Yes