Bleach is said to be bad for humans and bad for sewage systems but I see a lot of people use and recommend it, why?
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>Bleach is said to be bad for humans and bad for sewage systems but I see a lot of people use and recommend it, why?
Because – and I don’t know it how to put it in a way that is both reasonably concise and does *not* sound facetious – it’s pretty good for bleaching and if you have bleaching to do then you should really consider using bleach.
It’s bad for you *if you drink it*
But like any other industrial chemical, it has many non-eating uses. As a disinfectant or a bleaching agent, it’s quite good.
Bleach kills living things.
This is bad if you get it on your skin obviously
This is bad for sewage systems because there are bacteria that actually break down the sewage. You want bacteria in your sewage systems.
However it can be good for surfaces that you want to clean to avoid the spread of disease. It’s also good for removing stains from white clothing towels etc, but not good for colored clothing towels etc because it will remove the coloring.
In other words it is a ridiculously powerful cleaner and disinfectant but not every material can survive this type of intense cleaning.
Bleach will corrode metal and burn skin, it is a strong base. So it can wear out older pipes over a long time. However it is excellent for disinfecting hard surfaces and durable cloths. Dilute it with water and treat it reasonably carefully it’s fine
I think the benefits of bleach are covered. Some of the potential harm is when the chlorine in bleach mixes with organic matter in the environment (sewage being treated then discharged to the environment). Chlorine can combine with organic molecules and form some really nasty stuff like trihalomethanes, chloramine, etc. Those chemicals are toxic, carcinogenic and can cause reproductive problems, all around nasty business. So, if you can get away with a less toxic disinfectant, awesome. I still use bleach when only bleach will do. Better though I have a stabilized aqueous ozone generator to make a disinfectant solution that degrades to water and oxygen, no toxic byproducts, but not as cheap as bleach.
You know how bleach feels slimy when you get some on your hands? That’s because the chemical begins to breakdown your outer layer of skin (oils, fats, dead cells, etc.) almost immediately. That slim is *you*.
Some people consume chemicals which harm them because they’re entirely too credulous, and have placed their trust in the wrong people. People who take advantage of the ignorance of others for personal profit and influence. People who harbor no concern for the consequences to the health and well-being of those who chose to trust them.
Bleach is a great cleaner because it’s corrosive. Bleach is awful for your home’s plumbing (over time) *because it’s corrosive.*
(Too much) Bleach is bad for septic systems because it kills living tissue, and a healthy septic depends upon bacteria to continuously breakdown the waste. Killing off the bacteria stalls the system. Also, bleach is corrosive, and septic systems are made up of a variety of materials which can be damaged by bleach over the course of several decades.
Because it’s a matter of dosage.
Drinking straight chlorine, or water with too much chlorine is horribly horribly bad for you and very well may kill you. Drinking incredibly small quantities of it is not harmful.
Chlorine for example, is widely used in municipal water supplies as an antimicrobial. [The EPA considers levels up to 4ppm to be safe for human consumption](https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations#Disinfectants).
It’s useful in making potable water. It is replacing iodine for backpacking as it kills bacteria and doesn’t taste as bad as iodine. We use it in our cistern as needed.
Bleach has many beneficial uses, such as disinfecting (killing bacteria) and well, bleaching, i.e. making things white. When used properly it doesn’t cause a problem. Usually this means either wearing protective gear so it does not get on you and/or diluting it (adding water to reduce the amount of bleach you are using). So like many things it depends on how its used, like say fire. Fire can be bad for humans (burning them) and good for humans (heating them, cooking their food, etc.). There are few, if ANY, things in the world that are completely good or completely bad. How something is used usually makes the difference.
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