How to Remove Chlorine From Water (2026)

Last updated: October 2026

Quick Answer: You remove chlorine from water in four ways: stand it uncovered, boil it, dose it with vitamin C, or filter it. Standing and boiling suit a jug or bucket, and a day of standing cut free chlorine by about 62% in one study. For a running shower, only a point-of-use filter keeps up.

The right method depends on volume. A litre for tea can sit or boil, but a shower keeps supplying fresh chlorinated water.

Care Dale makes dermatologist-certified, clinically tested shower filters, so this guide is clear about where a filter is needed and where it is not. Dechlorination is the removal of free chlorine from water, and every method below achieves it. Chloramine is a different story.

Method	What it takes	Works for a jug or bucket?	Works for a running shower?
Standing uncovered	24 hours or more	Yes, partly	No
Boiling	A long, uncovered rolling boil	Yes, small volumes	No
Vitamin C	A few milligrams per litre, stirred in	Yes	Only inside a vitamin C cartridge
Carbon-based filter (jug or under-sink)	Water passes through the media	Yes, for drinking water	No
RO purifier	Its carbon pre-filter takes out chlorine	Yes, for drinking water	No
Point-of-use shower filter	Fitted on the shower arm or tap	Not its job	Yes

Does boiling water remove chlorine?

Yes, but slowly. Heat drives free chlorine out of water as a gas, so an uncovered pot loses it faster than a covered kettle. A short boil is not enough: in a 2020 laboratory study on boiling tap water, chlorine was still measurable after five minutes at a full boil.

That study started near 3.1 mg/L of chlorine, well above typical Indian tap levels, so lighter supplies clear sooner. Water-treatment suppliers commonly advise 15 to 20 minutes uncovered, which is a lot of gas for a few litres.

There is another trade-off. Chlorine left in the water while it heats reacts with organic matter and forms disinfection byproducts, and treating the water with vitamin C before boiling prevented this.

Boiling suits small volumes for drinking or cooking. It cannot treat a shower. For running water, see our chlorine shower filter page.

How long does it take for chlorine to evaporate from water?

About a day for a meaningful drop, and longer for most of it. In a 2014 point-of-use study, tap water holding 0.2 to 0.8 mg/L of free chlorine lost 62% of it in 24 hours at room temperature and 51% in a refrigerator.

Warmth, light and an open surface all speed it up. The researchers found chlorine escapes quickest from open vessels. The catch: an open vessel also invites contamination.

The residual is there to protect water between the treatment plant and your cup. So cover whatever you plan to drink, and accept that the drop will take longer.

Standing has one limit worth knowing. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a few days of standing removes chlorine but not chloramine. If your utility uses chloramine, a bucket left overnight changes very little.

Does vitamin C remove chlorine from water?

Yes, and much faster than standing. Vitamin C, as ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate, neutralises chlorine quickly, which is why the USDA Forest Service uses it to dechlorinate water from sanitised systems before that water reaches streams. The amount needed is tiny: about 8.65 mg/L of sodium ascorbate cleared roughly 3.1 mg/L of chlorine in the 2020 boiling study.

Because so little is needed, a pinch of food-grade ascorbic acid stirred into a bucket of bathing water is usually enough for most tap supplies.

Vitamin C shower cartridges use the same chemistry in flow-through form. Hardness is another matter: vitamin C does nothing for it, as covered in whether vitamin C and magnetic shower heads work.

Does a water filter or RO remove chlorine?

Most do, but it is the carbon doing the work, not the membrane. Carbon-based filters, from jugs to under-sink cartridges, trap chlorine as water passes through. In a reverse osmosis system, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension guide to RO notes that the carbon filter paired with the membrane removes chlorine, which the membrane alone handles less well.

The real problem is volume. A typical household RO unit produces 10 to 35 gallons (roughly 38 to 132 litres) of treated water a day, at a 20 to 30% recovery rate with the rest sent to drain. That is why it gets its own drinking tap, not a line to the bathroom.

How do you remove chlorine from water for bathing?

Fit a point-of-use filter on the shower or tap, because bathing water has to be treated as it flows. Standing, boiling and vitamin C all work on a fixed volume. Fine for a bucket, no use for a running shower that keeps delivering fresh chlorinated water.

For a shower, the filter sits between the shower arm and the head, and if a geyser feeds that line, placement matters, as covered in where a shower filter goes relative to the geyser.

The Care Dale tap and shower filter for municipal supply at ₹1,499 carries a Care Dale rating of 96% chlorine reduction. It works in three layers: pre-filtration for sediment, CareTec ultrafiltration for calcium and magnesium, then a chlorine and impurities stage. It fits most Indian taps and showers in about two minutes, no plumber needed, and the cartridge lasts 3 to 4 months or about 25kL.

The scope needs stating plainly. The Care Dale filter is not a purification system, so it does not reduce total dissolved solids (TDS), nor does it separate out iron or heavy metals. No shower filter, Care Dale included, addresses iron, heavy metals, chloramine, TDS or bacteria.

It is also not a drinking-water device. Chloramine does not off-gas like free chlorine, and this filter is not the answer for it.

Why does tap water smell of chlorine?

Utilities leave some in on purpose. India's drinking water standard, BIS IS 10500, requires at least 0.2 mg/L of free residual chlorine at the consumer end when water is chlorinated, rising to 0.5 mg/L where protection against viral infection is needed.

The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation's water supply manual tells utilities to set dosing so that at least 0.2 mg/L reaches the consumer end. And the WHO background document on chlorine in drinking-water puts most disinfected supplies at 0.2 to 1 mg/L.

The CDC notes that water tastes and smells stronger when chlorine levels are higher, and it considers up to 4 mg/L safe to drink.

Chloramine is the exception. Some utilities use it because it lasts longer in pipes and forms fewer byproducts, and chloramine versus chlorine in Indian shower water explains how to tell which one you have. For the health questions, see what research says about chlorine in shower water.

Common mistakes when removing chlorine

• Stopping at a five-minute boil and assuming the chlorine has gone
• Leaving drinking water uncovered for days, which trades chlorine for contamination
• Expecting standing or boiling to clear chloramine
• Buying a jug filter or RO unit to fix a shower problem
• Expecting a shower filter to lower TDS or make water drinkable

What four weeks usually look like

Removing chlorine from your shower changes what touches your skin and hair. Expect gradual change.

In the first week, the chlorine smell in the bathroom starts to fade, and many people notice their skin feels less tight after a wash. By weeks 3 and 4, hair tends to tangle less. Most noticeable on colour-treated lengths.

What will not change is damage already in the hair shaft, which grows out or gets cut. If your water is also hard, the two make each other worse, as explained in why hard water and chlorine are worse together, while removing chlorine damage from hair covers what helps existing lengths.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to get chlorine out of hair?

Rinse with clean water as soon as you can, then shampoo and condition, because chlorine keeps working in damp hair. A clarifying shampoo used now and then lifts residue. A leave-in conditioner before swimming limits how much pool water hair absorbs.

Should you shower straight after swimming in a chlorinated pool?

Yes, as soon as you can. Wash with a mild cleanser, paying attention to skin folds and the scalp, then moisturise while the skin is still damp. Chlorine keeps working while pool water dries on skin and hair, so a prompt rinse matters more than any product.

Does an overhead water tank need dechlorinating?

Usually not. Chlorine breaks down on its own in storage, faster in warm, bright conditions, and removing it strips the residual that protects stored water from regrowth. Keep the lid on and treat the water where you use it, at the tap or shower.

Can aquarium fish go straight into tap water?

No. Letting tap water stand for a few days removes chlorine, but not chloramine. If your water might carry chloramine, use a dechlorinating product from a pet store, since fish take in water directly and even small amounts of disinfectant can harm them.

Can you drink water that has passed through a shower filter?

No. A shower or tap filter reduces hardness minerals, chlorine, odours and micro-particles for bathing. It does not lower TDS or remove iron, heavy metals or bacteria, because it is filtration rather than purification, so drinking water needs a separate certified purifier.