Chloramine in Newport Beach Tap Water: What It Is and How to Remove It

Most Newport Beach homeowners assume the faint chemical smell from the tap is chlorine. It usually is not. The City of Newport Beach treats both its local and imported drinking water with chloramine, a blend of chlorine and ammonia, according to its 2025 Water Quality Report. Chloramine keeps water safe on its long trip through the pipes, but it behaves differently from chlorine in a few ways that matter if you keep fish, run a home dialysis machine, or simply dislike the taste. This guide explains what chloramine is, why our water system uses it, and what actually removes it at home.

Newport Beach Uses Chloramine, Not Just Chlorine

Newport Beach disinfects its drinking water with chloramine, a compound made by combining chlorine with ammonia, according to the city's 2025 Water Quality Report. The report states that both imported and locally produced water are treated with chloramines as a disinfectant, so it is not a seasonal or occasional thing; it is the standard. The imported portion is treated by the Metropolitan Water District at its Diemer plant before it reaches Orange County, while local groundwater is disinfected as it enters the system. If you have noticed a mild swimming-pool smell at the tap and assumed it was straight chlorine, chloramine is the more likely source. The two are related, but chloramine is more stable and lingers longer, which is exactly why water systems across Southern California rely on it.

Why Water Systems Choose Chloramine

Water utilities use chloramine because it holds up better than free chlorine over long distances. The EPA explains that chloramine provides longer-lasting disinfection as water moves through the pipes to consumers, and that many systems switched to it to meet limits on disinfection byproducts. Those byproducts form when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter in the water, and keeping them low is a health goal in its own right; Newport Beach's report shows total trihalomethanes averaging 26 parts per billion against an 80 ppb limit, well within bounds. For a region that moves treated water hundreds of miles from the Colorado River and Northern California, a disinfectant that stays active all the way to the tap is a practical necessity. In other words, chloramine is not a shortcut; it is a deliberate choice that keeps water safe through a very long delivery system.

Chloramine and Chlorine Are Not the Same Thing

Chlorine and chloramine are both disinfectants, but they behave differently once they leave the treatment plant. Free chlorine is a strong, fast-acting disinfectant that also dissipates relatively quickly, which is why it can fade from water left standing and why it tends to produce more disinfection byproducts when it meets organic matter. Chloramine, made by adding ammonia to chlorine, is milder but far more persistent; it keeps working through miles of pipe and does not off-gas the way chlorine does. That persistence is a benefit for the water system and a complication for anyone trying to remove it, because the tricks that work on chlorine, like letting water sit out or boiling briefly, do not reliably clear chloramine. Understanding that difference is the key to choosing the right filter: a device that removes chlorine is not automatically rated to remove chloramine, and the label is worth reading closely.

Is Chloramine in Your Water Safe?

For most people, yes. The EPA states that water containing chloramine and meeting federal standards is safe for drinking, cooking, bathing, and other everyday household uses. Chloramine is a regulated disinfectant, and the levels used in public water are set to keep water safe to consume. The nuance is that safe to drink is not the same as pleasant to drink or right for every use. Some households simply do not like the taste or smell chloramine can leave, particularly in cooking or coffee. And two specific groups need to take active steps to remove it, which is where the picture changes from preference to necessity.

Who Actually Needs to Remove Chloramine

Two groups need to remove chloramine rather than just tolerate it: aquarium keepers and people on home dialysis. Chloramine is toxic to fish and other aquatic life, so it has to be neutralized before tap water goes into a tank or pond, and unlike chlorine, it does not simply evaporate if you let a bucket of water sit out overnight. Home dialysis is the other case: chloramine must be removed from water used in dialysis because it can harm patients, which is why medical-grade treatment is standard for that use. Beyond those two groups, removing chloramine is a matter of taste, comfort, and cooking quality rather than safety. Knowing which category you fall into tells you how seriously to treat it and how robust a system you need.

How to Remove Chloramine at Home

Chloramine is removed with carbon filtration, but the type and size of the carbon matter. The CDC notes that activated carbon filters, the kind in most pitcher and refrigerator filters, are designed mainly to improve the taste and smell of water rather than its safety, and that filters remove chlorine along the way. Those small filters can take the edge off, but chloramine is more stubborn than chlorine and needs more contact time with the carbon to break down fully. That is why whole-house and under-sink systems built for chloramine typically use catalytic carbon and a larger media bed sized to your household's flow rate. The CDC also advises checking a filter's NSF certification to confirm it addresses the specific thing you are trying to remove. For a home that wants chloramine handled at every tap, a properly sized carbon system is the dependable route; for drinking water alone, an under-sink carbon or reverse osmosis setup can do the job at the kitchen.

What to Look for in a Chloramine System

When you shop for a chloramine filter, a few details separate the ones that work from the ones that disappoint. Look for catalytic carbon rather than standard activated carbon, since the catalytic form is far more effective at breaking down chloramine, and look for a media bed and flow rate sized to your home so the water gets enough contact time. Check the NSF certification, as the CDC recommends, and confirm it names chloramine specifically rather than only chlorine. Finally, plan for maintenance: carbon media has a working life and needs periodic replacement to keep performing, so ask what the service interval looks like before you buy.

Deciding Whether to Filter Chloramine in Your Home

Start by being honest about why you want it gone. If you keep an aquarium or rely on home dialysis, removing chloramine is not optional and the system needs to be sized and certified for the task. If it is about taste, coffee, or general comfort, you have more latitude; a well-chosen carbon filter at the kitchen or a whole-house catalytic carbon system will make a clear difference without over-engineering the problem. Either way, match the carbon to the fact that Newport Beach uses chloramine year-round, not occasional chlorine, so a filter rated only for chlorine may fall short. If you want help figuring out the right size and type, the carbon filtration systems and whole-house water filtration pages lay out the options, or you can reach Newport Beach Water Filtration through the home page to talk it through.