Water treatment resources
Chloramine in El Paso Water: What Homeowners Should Know
Many municipal water suppliers, including some in the El Paso area, use chloramine instead of chlorine alone for disinfection. Here’s what that means at the tap.
What Is Chloramine?
Chloramine is a disinfectant formed by combining chlorine with ammonia. Many municipal water systems use it because it tends to persist longer in the distribution system than chlorine alone, providing more consistent disinfection by the time water reaches your home. El Paso Water Utilities currently uses {{EL_PASO_CHLORAMINE_STATUS}} as its primary disinfectant.
Why It Matters at the Tap
Chloramine is more resistant to removal than chlorine. Standard activated carbon that readily removes chlorine taste and odor often needs more contact time, or a catalytic carbon media, to meaningfully reduce chloramine. This matters when selecting whole-home filtration or drinking-water systems.
Chloramine can also be more aggressive toward certain water-softener resin types over time compared to chlorinated water, which is one reason El Paso Water Tek pairs carbon pretreatment ahead of the softening resin in the systems we install — removing the chemical before it reaches the resin bed.
What This Means for Your Treatment System
If taste, odor, or resin life is a concern, the fix usually isn’t "more carbon" — it’s the right carbon media and contact time for the specific disinfectant in your water. That’s a detail worth confirming when sizing a whole-home filtration system or a drinking-water RO system.
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