Water & tank care
How to remove the chlorine taste from your water
That faint swimming-pool taste and smell in town water is chlorine. It’s added on purpose to keep the supply safe to drink, so it’s doing a job, but many people would rather not taste it. It also happens to be one of the easiest things to reduce.
Why it’s there
Water authorities add a small amount of chlorine to keep drinking water free of harmful bugs all the way to your tap. It’s safe to drink; it’s the taste and smell people object to.
Your options, simplest first
- Fill a jug and let it stand. Chlorine is volatile, and a good deal gasses off if you leave an open jug in the fridge for a few hours.
- A carbon jug or bottle filter. Activated carbon is very good at grabbing chlorine and the taste that comes with it, an easy first step for drinking water.
- An under-sink carbon filter, plumbed into the cold tap for filtered water on demand without the jug.
- A whole-house carbon filter, which treats every tap and shower in the house, so the water is better to drink, cook and bathe in.
What to look for
For taste and smell, the key words are activated carbon (sometimes called activated charcoal). Check the filter’s rated capacity in litres so you know how often the cartridge needs changing, and match the flow rate to how you’ll use it, as a whole-house unit needs to keep up with several taps at once.
Common questions
Is the chlorine in my water dangerous?
At the levels used in Australian town supplies it’s considered safe to drink; it’s there to keep the water safe. Removing it’s about taste, not safety.
Do I need to filter chlorine out of tank water?
Rainwater tanks generally aren’t chlorinated, so a chlorine taste is really a town-water thing. Tank water has its own considerations, covered in our tank guides.