Disinfecting your drinking water
All drinking water needs to be disinfected to make it safe to drink. We filter and use a range of treatment methods; from the moment it starts its journey to your property from one of many sources.
Chloramine is safe
SA Health and the World Health Organisation confirm chloramine is a safe and effective disinfectant for drinking water.
South Australia's drinking water
South Australia’s drinking water has been safely and effectively disinfected with chloramine since the 1980s.
Chloramine, like chlorine, is a disinfectant that kills bacteria and other pathogens in source water, keeping your tap water clean and safe.
More than 220,000 South Australians have received chloraminated water for years, including in the Mid North, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, Yorke Peninsula, southern Adelaide Hills, Tailem Bend, Strathalbyn and Keith. It's also used in Sydney, Brisbane, Bendigo, much of Western Australia, and overseas.
Australia’s water quality
Australia’s drinking water is regulated by strict health standards under the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011). Our drinking water quality monitoring programs help us meet or exceed these standards. We run over 400,000 lab tests each year. That’s more than 1,000 a day to check our water quality.
Learn about your suburb’s tap water
For a quality profile of your drinking water, including how it is disinfected, you can enter your suburb into our handy search tool.
Why water utilities use chloramine
Like chlorine, chloramine destroys bacteria and other pathogens that can be present in source water. Chloramine is also used as a disinfection method because it persists in the water supply for a long time which is useful for long pipe networks such as those used in South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula network which has about 600 kilometres of water mains.
Know all the chloramine facts
There’s a great deal of misinformation about chloramine online, so we want to make sure you have the facts about the safety of your drinking water. We recommend you rely on expert advice for health-related information.
Chloramine is made by combining ammonia and chlorine. We only use a small amount of chloramine, typically between 2 and 4 mg/L, to ensure a safe but effective disinfection residual in your drinking water. The amounts of free ammonia in drinking water due to chloramination are also very small, with the ideal range in a chloraminated system typically between 0.1 and 0.3 mg/L.
We constantly watch these levels as part of our water quality monitoring program, to ensure your drinking water is safe, clean and in reliable supply.
As outlined by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011), ammonia levels need to be greater than1000 mg/L (about 5,000 times higher than drinking water concentrations) to have any potential effect on human health. As these concentrations are highly unlikely to occur in drinking water, no health-based guideline for ammonia has been set.
We understand people have different perceptions about the taste of water and personal preferences.
Some people notice that tap water disinfected by chlorine can have a distinct smell and taste. Disinfecting with chloramine lessens this effect, and it’s acknowledged as a better tasting water in independent and blind taste tests.
Chloraminated drinking water produced by the Morgan Water Treatment Plant has also won the prize for best tasting drinking water in South Australia on several occasions in recent years.
Although water treatment costs are considered, the safety of our drinking water is a much higher priority, and that it consistently and holistically achieves the compliance of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011).
Before the disinfection process (which destroys pathogens such as bacteria, virus and protozoa), our water supplies also undergo filtration. Filtration methods used by SA Water can include granular activated carbon, membranes and sand filtration, depending on the source of the water.
Chloramine is a common water disinfection method across the world. It is used in all mainland states of Australia, including major cities like Sydney and Brisbane, and in a wide range of international drinking water supplies such as London and Singapore and across the United States.
Chloramine disinfection raises the pH of your drinking water, so it is less corrosive to pipes and water mains than chlorinated water.
Most pipes are wrapped in cement to give them strength. Acids, which are liquids with a pH under 7, dissolve cement. This causes corrosion to the pipe surface. Acids are also highly corrosive to cast iron, which most pipe valves consist of.
Most water has a pH of between 7 and 7.5. When drinking water is disinfected with chlorine or chloramine, additives are used to ensure the pH doesn’t drop below 7. However, chlorine must stay below a pH of 8 to be effective, while chloramine is still effective at pH levels up to 9.5.
This enables us to keep your drinking water at a pH of approximately 8, which is the same pH as seawater. The slightly higher pH has no effect on the taste or quality of your water, but it is less likely to corrode pipes and valves. This extends the lifespan of our water mains and network which can mean fewer temporary interruptions to your drinking water supply.
Your tap water is safe for humans and animals, except aquatic pets, to drink.
In chloraminated supplies, only small amounts of chloramine are used in compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011). This ensures your drinking water is safe and free from naturally occurring pathogens.
If you care for aquatic pets at home or work, read more about water treatment when caring for aquatic pets here.
Only very small amounts of chloramine are used in drinking water disinfection. Our chloraminated drinking water meets all requirements of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011), which includes the guideline amount for chloramine in drinking water.
Some people can experience a response to various types of environmental factors. Occasionally, this can include skin irritations associated with people showering in both chlorinated and chloraminated water. These instances are uncommon and can be linked with other pre-existing conditions. SA Health recommend that you seek medical advice from your GP on individual health concerns including any skin irritations.
The health of aquatic animals in your fish tank, aquarium or pond depends on a combination of factors. Tap water and its compounds are some of the influences you need to consider.
For advice on your specific requirements, contact your pet shop or aquarium retailer.
Explore the information here to learn about the safe use of tap water in your fish tank, aquarium or pond.
Home dialysis units are fitted with a filter that removes both chloramine and chlorine from the water supply.
For more information, contact the Biomedical Engineering Team at the Royal Adelaide Hospital on (08) 7074 5500.
Whether you’re topping up your pool or filling it for the first time with chloraminated tap water, you may need to add more chlorine than normal to achieve the right chlorine concentration.
Ensure you continue to test your overall chlorine concentration during your normal maintenance routine.
Contact your pool supplier for specialist advice or refer to sahealth.gov.au for information on home swimming pool maintenance.