Chloroform???Can someone tell me something about this???

Question

My sister and her husband milk cows for a living.They had a water test done today,and chloroform was found in the water.If the problem isnt taken care of,they are droped down to grade D.What causes this?And how can it be taken care of?Iv looked it up on the web but didnt find any real answers.Any help is appricated.Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Chloroform (CHCl3) is many things. That it is a probable human carcinogen is the issue. Chloroform is a nonpolar organic solvent and had been used as an anesthetic and in some cough syrups. Denser than water, it tends to sink to the bottom of any body of water in which it may be present. Chloroform can be created in chlorination of drinking water containing organic matter, in bleaching wood pulp, etc.

Activated carbon filtration may help remove the chloroform, but I'd want to know why it's there (and what else is, too) first.

Answer 2

The dangers of chloroform in drinking water are a farce. The toxicity and carcinogenicity of chloroform are largely overstated, and the cautionary notes are motivated more by political interests than scientific reason. Furthermore, chloroform is an additive in all drinking water reserves, as it is useful in the holocaust of harmful microorganisms in water. Consequently, you have been drinking chloroform for your entire life whether you realize it or not. We all have. The amount found in reservoir water will never ever hurt you. How it effects agricultural designations, I am unaware. To remove chloroform from water on a farm-scale may be beyond your resources unless you can filter or distill quantities of water similar to a swimming pool.
There is no natural source of chloroform vis-a-vis drinking water. This was either added as a sanitizer, or less likely, it was added as a pollutant.

Answer 3

Chloroform is list as a cancer causing agent now, even though it had in the distant past been used as a general anesthetic.

But how did it get in your water?

The only 'natural' way it gets into water is because of chlorination of water as a side product.

Either the lab made a mistake or someone has dumped into your water supply (assuming a well)

If your getting water from a company that chlorinates its water, then you will have to switch to some other source.

Answer 4

depends on how much chloroform is in the water. a little won't do anything, but a lot will not go over well. they need to talk to the local water treatment plant and see what local levels are and what they should be...

Answer 5

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fortitudinousskeptic
I teach chemistry, and was raised on a farm. I know a little about dairying. I don't mind discussing it.