Safe Water Since 1927: Dry Chlorine’s Introduction in 1927 Marked A Life-Saving Breakthrough in Sanitizing Water

In 1927, American cities were in the early stages of using liquid chlorine or so-called bleaching powder (generally chlorinated lime) to treat drinking water and sewage effluent as a means of preventing deadly outbreaks of typhoid and cholera that still claimed thousands of lives nationwide. That year, the Mathieson Alkali Works -- a key predecessor company to Arch Chemicals and its HTH Water Products business -- achieved a major breakthrough when it introduced the first dry chlorine product in a granular form -- which it called HTH® for High Test Hypochlorite.

This calcium hypochlorite compound not only dissolved easily in water, but it was more stable than bleaching powders and offered twice the available chlorine content -- a critical benefit in destroying the microorganisms that carried life-threatening diseases. Mathieson quickly developed feeder systems for applying HTH to drinking water and sewage effluent and for use in sanitizing water in food processing and other industrial applications. The same public health concerns applied to swimming pools.

Today, with the hindsight afforded by history, the value of using chlorine to sanitize water is starkly evident in some simple facts: in 1908, when chlorine was first used in a continuous application to treat drinking water in Jersey City, New Jersey, the average life expectancy in America was 49 years. Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, the average life expectancy has risen into the 80s for many segments of society, and it’s still climbing. This explains why Time magazine at the turn of the new millennium hailed the use of chlorine as a water sanitizer as one of the major scientific achievements of the 20th Century.

This life-saving benefit was colorfully described in a document -- the “Hypo-Chlorination of Water” -- that was published in 1941 by Mathieson Alkali Works. “The fearsome specter of water-borne diseases, including typhoid fever, so prevalent before the advent of chlorination, can be successfully laid to rest,” the publication asserted. “The water works operator, by his testing and treating, stands as a vigilant sentinel to prevent armies of billions of disease organisms from invading the homes of his community.”

The use of dry, calcium hypochlorite to sanitize swimming pool water emerged during the 1930s. That was a time when officials who were responsible for sanitizing drinking water also often oversaw the operation of municipal swimming pools. These officials either manually distributed HTH into pools or used early feeder systems. They also prepared solutions of this product for use in sanitizing the floors of swimming pool locker rooms, shower rooms, bathrooms and even diving boards. Today, Arch offers Pulsar® calcium hypochlorite briquettes and feeder systems for municipal pools, a recent refinement in the history of dry chlorine.

Although HTH and rival products have been improved over the years to increase their efficacy, stability and cost-effectiveness, these and other forms of “dry chlorine” remain a vital, first-line defense against deadly, water-borne diseases -- whether in recreational water, drinking water systems or the post-harvest washing of fruits and vegetables.

Arch Chemicals also has a long history of supplying calcium hypochlorite to international relief agencies in the wake of wars and natural disasters, where it is used to sanitize drinking water and even cooking utensils and equipment. The Company also works with such agencies to provide simple feeder systems and calcium hypochlorite for use in poor rural villages and urban areas in Central and South America and Africa. Arch’s calcium hypochlorite is also the sanitizing agent in Procter & Gamble’s PuR® sachets -- small pouches that can be used to treat up to 10 liters of drinking water at a time. These sachets were distributed by the millions in the wake of the Christmas tsunami disaster in East Asia, and they have been distributed widely in Haiti, Africa and other undeveloped regions to provide individuals and families with a method of sanitizing contaminated water.

Helpful Links
For more information on how Chlorine has brought safe drinking water to people all over the world, visit the following websites:
Chlorine Chemistry: 100 Years of Safer Lives
American Chemistry: Chlorine Science Center

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