Chlorine Tablets are a widely used water disinfectant that kills most viruses and bacteria in water and treats up to 50000 liters of water. Also, for the treatment of drinking water, these water purification tablets can be used to disinfect for cleaning and washing fruits and vegetables. Chlorination of water is one of the worldwide-accepted methods of disinfection and purification of water to make it potable. For inexpensive, economical, and timely purification of drinking water, under the various schemes of protected water supply in rural areas, Chlorine Tablets are highly effective. This is the easiest method of disinfection and purification of water.

Application

  • Drinking Water Purification from Biological Contaminants
  • Hospital Disinfection
  • Baby Bottle Sterilizing
  • Janitorial Cleaning
  • Food and Catering
  • Fruit and vegetable disinfection
  • Poultry

For fast treatment of water for:

  • Emergency and Disaster
  • Travel and Camping
  • Household
  • Peace Keeping/Defence Forces
  • Marine Application
  • Disinfection of the Water System
  • Municipal Water Supplies

Technical Specification

Each uncoated chlorine tablet contains: Sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) 200 gm Available chlorine 1,20,000 mg.

Chlorine is effective against a large variety of microbes that cause waterborne diseases like typhoid, Diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis, and many more. Chlorine tablets are globally credited with eliminating outbreaks of waterborne illnesses. Recently Life magazine has cited them as the "most significant public health advance of the millennium". They have been proven to be a rigid barrier between your health and waterborne pathogens. Chlorine tablets work as disinfectants by killing the microorganisms during the treatment of water and hence maintaining its quality for drinking. In addition to working against microbes, chlorine tablets have the potential to inactivate enzymes because of their high reactivity. But it does not affect cytoplasmic enzymes and hence the water is safe even for consumption.

The action of Chlorine tablets

The chlorine dissolves quickly in water, and for best results let them work for 30 minutes. The microbial killing action is due to its capacity to destroy the bacterial cell wall on exposure. Its activity spectrum works against hydrophilic viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoans.

Is chlorinated water safe for consumption?

Chlorine may be harsh against disease-causing bacteria, but it gets neutralized in our bodies. Also, the concentration of chlorine in chlorine is sufficient to kill the pathogens but is probably too low to cause any significant injury in humans.

When to use it?

Benefits

  • Chlorine gets converted to chloramines that produce no harmful residues.
  • Effective against all virtually known pathogens
  • Easy to store and transport
  • Great biocidal effect
  • Safe to handle
  • Environment friendly
  • Quick action
  • Inexpensive disinfecting agent
  • Economical disinfecting agent
  • Easy to use
  • Biocidal agent
  • Can be stored for a long time
  • Portable
  • Effective against a wide range of pathogens
  • No harmful residues

The tablets are available in accurate doses yet people with allergies to chlorine and pregnant women should avoid them.

Today, people are no strangers to Chlorine tablets and the miracles they perform in killing the pathogens causing water-borne diseases. It is now easier than ever to treat your water with chlorine because you can easily buy chlorine tablets made specifically for this purpose.

Dosage

You can buy tablets that are measured out for your convenience instead of purchasing large stocks. Buying tablets will ensure you do not have too much chlorine in your water, as an excess of the chemical can be harmful to the body. These tablets usually come in different sizes in correspondence to the amount of water that needs to be disinfected. Generally, 1 mg of the tablet is sufficient for 1 liter of water. Chlorination of water is a concept of water purification that has been irreplaceable over the years. The chlorine tablets are inexpensive, easy to use, with quick action, and ensure potable water.

Variety

Chlorine tablets are available in portable forms such as strips or even small jars. These alternatives give users ease to use for other needs like traveling or vacationing for example. Hence, they can be easily carried while trekking or camping.

Application

  • Safe drinking water: Chlorine provides potable drinking water because of its disinfecting and sterilizing properties. The addition of chlorine to drinking water has restricted the frequent episodes of water-borne diseases to a great extent.
  • Household disinfectant: Chlorine being a bleaching agent, can not only disinfect clothes but also whitens them. Chlorine and water solution can be used for household cleaning purposes, especially surfaces that are prone to contamination.
  • Disinfecting eatables: As diluted chlorine is safe for human consumption it can be used for washing fruits and vegetables. Thus, chlorine can fight foodborne pathogens as well.
  • Healthcare services: Chlorine is powerful enough to fight pathogens in hospitals, nurseries, and other healthcare service-providing areas. It is also a part of first aid or disaster management kits.
  • Municipal water supply systems
  • Military forces
  • Travel or camping
  • Emergency and Disaster Management forces

Precautions

In case of irritation, feeling of a burning sensation, or dermatitis on exposure to chlorine avoid using the tablets. The tablets are not for consumption by infants and pregnant women. In case of vomiting on the consumption of chlorinated water consult a medical professional. Keep the tablets out of reach of children and use them only in the prescribed dosage. The chlorine tablets are effective against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their spores but do not remove sediments and dirt from the water. While it seems that the use of chlorine is one-fold, it can be used in several ways. Because chlorine is a popular disinfectant, it is great to use in small amounts on kitchen or bathroom surfaces. One of the main reasons why so many of our kitchen cleaning sprays have chlorine in them is because it has the power to destroy common foodborne germs that may live on your kitchen counters. However, it is necessary to do this in a well-ventilated area and small amounts. It has also been proven time after time that when handled properly and in the right amounts, chlorine is great for even drinking water because it kills a lot of germs. It also does not harm the environment a lot so it would be a sustainable choice when you do decide to buy it.

About the Author: Syed Asad Raza is an environmentalist with a keen interests in environmental conservation and protection.