Answered: is Tap Water Safe for Bathing and Showering?

Even people that seem to understand that our water is not sanitary enough to be drinking can sometimes be heard to ask is tap water safe for bathing and showering?  The primary reason that it is not is because of the chlorine that is present, along with the THMs that the chlorine disinfection process produces.

The biggest danger that comes from taking a bath in chlorinated water is that the chemical will be absorbed by your skin.  Now if you like to spend time taking long luxurious baths then this could become a problem because the longer that you are sitting in the bath the more chlorine that your body will absorb.

When people ask me is tap water safe for bathing and showering I always point out that one of the most unhealthy things that you can do is sit in a tub of chlorinated water for an hour or more.  Medical professionals have stated that spending a lot of time swimming in chlorinated water greatly increased your risk of developing cancer.

The reason that I bring that up is that the maximum amount of chlorine that is legally allowable in a swimming pool is three parts per million, while in your drinking and bath water the allowable limit is four parts per million.  This means that the amount of chlorine typically found in your water at home is enough to shut down a public pool.

Is tap water safe for bathing and showering if you don’t spend an inordinate amount of time in the water?  For a bath I would say that it was “safer”, but for a shower there is really no safe amount of time.  If you are in the shower long enough for the water to produce steam then it is not safe for you to be in there.

Once steam has been produced you have to realize that what you are then breathing in is primarily chlorine.  Chlorine vaporizes at a far faster rate than water does, and chlorine inhaled into the lungs goes almost immediately into the bloodstream.  You take in about 6,000 times more chlorine this way than if you were to drink water all day.

When someone asks is tap water safe for bathing and showering I always make sure to tell them that there is really no safe contact that we can have with chlorine because it is this very chemical that many scientists and medical professionals pinpoint as the number one cause for the incredible increase in cancer over the last century.

What I tend to advise people to do if they want to keep their families safe is to either invest in both high quality water filters and showerhead filters.  Some showerhead filters even have removable wands so that filling up the bathtub is a breeze.  You might even opt to simply get a whole house filter to remove all doubt.

Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?  You are most welcome to do your own research.  For me, the answer is no, it is absolutely not safe I’m afraid.