Troubleshooting Algae Growth Using Chloramines in Emergency Water Treatment

By: Dr. Julian V. Mercer, Senior Humanitarian Logistics & Water Safety Strategist

Let’s cut through the emotional fog that often surrounds humanitarian aid. When a disaster strikes—a flood submerging a refugee camp or an earthquake shattering a city’s grid—the immediate instinct is speed. We talk about liters per hour and pathogen kill rates. But there’s a silent, insidious threat that often goes unnoticed until weeks later, when the acute crisis has faded and a secondary health disaster begins: persistent algae growth in stored water.

I remember standing in a temporary distribution hub in Southeast Asia just three weeks after a devastating monsoon. The logistics coordinator, a weary man named Mateo, was showing me a series of large bladder tanks that looked less like water reserves and more like pea soup. “We’re drowning in free chlorine,” he admitted, his voice tight with frustration. “We dose liquid bleach until the residual reads off the chart, but the moment the sun hits these open tanks, the algae blooms within hours. The survivors are refusing to drink it because of the taste and the green sludge. We solved the bacterial problem only to create an aesthetic and acceptance crisis.”

Mateo’s dilemma highlights a critical, often overlooked paradox in emergency water treatment: the aggressive use of unstable free chlorine to fight algae often fails due to rapid UV degradation and the creation of unpleasant tastes that lead to water rejection. The solution isn’t just “more chlorine”; it’s a strategic shift to Chloramines (specifically monochloramine). Unlike free chlorine, chloramines are a persistent, stable disinfectant that resists UV breakdown and provides a long-lasting residual capable of suppressing algae regrowth in storage without the harsh taste that drives people away.

However, implementing a chloramine strategy in a chaotic emergency zone is fraught with risk if not done correctly. It requires precision, high-purity precursors, and a deep understanding of the stoichiometry. This isn’t just chemistry; it’s a blueprint for sustainable hydration. Let’s dig into how we can wield chloramines effectively to solve algae growth issues without compromising safety.

The Biology of the Bloom: Why Free Chlorine Fails in Storage

First, let’s dispel a dangerous myth: “If I shock the tank, the algae will stay dead.” Wrong. In emergency settings, water often sits in large, static bladders or tanks for days, frequently exposed to sunlight.

• The UV Decay Trap: Free chlorine is notoriously unstable in sunlight. Up to 90% of the residual can be destroyed within an hour of UV exposure. Once the residual drops, any surviving algae spores or new contaminants introduced during filling bloom rapidly.
• The Taste Rejection Cycle: To compensate for this decay, operators often over-dose with bleach. This creates water with a pungent, swimming-pool taste and odor. In crisis zones, if the water tastes bad, survivors will reject it and return to unsafe, untreated sources like rivers or wells, negating the entire intervention.
• The Biofilm Anchor: Algae often anchors itself in biofilm on the inner walls of storage tanks. Free chlorine struggles to penetrate this matrix effectively before decaying, allowing the colony to survive and regrow.

In Mateo’s camp, they were fighting a losing battle against physics and biology. They weren’t just treating the water; they were accidentally creating a cycle of rejection and re-contamination every time the chlorine residual dipped.

The Solution: Stability Over Strength with Chloramines

Troubleshooting algae growth in this context isn’t about brute force oxidation; it’s about persistence. We need a disinfectant that survives the sun and stays active in the water long enough to prevent regrowth.

1. The Power of Persistence
Monochloramine is far more stable than free chlorine. It persists in water for days, even in hot, sunny conditions. By maintaining a consistent residual of 0.5–1.0 mg/L throughout the storage period, we create an environment where algae cannot establish a foothold. No decay means no window of opportunity for blooms.

2. Improved Acceptance
Chloramines produce significantly less “chlorine” taste and odor compared to overdosed free chlorine. This ensures that survivors actually drink the treated water, breaking the cycle of rejection and re-contamination. In emergency response, acceptance is just as critical as efficacy.

3. Biofilm Penetration
While slower acting than free chlorine, monochloramine penetrates biofilm matrices effectively over time, disrupting the anchor points where algae colonies thrive. This prevents the slimy buildup on tank walls that serves as a nursery for future blooms.

The Critical Implementation Challenge: Precision is Life

Here is the catch: Chloramines must be generated with absolute precision.

• The Dosage Risk: If you under-dose ammonia relative to chlorine, you leave toxic free chlorine. If you over-dose ammonia, you risk promoting nitrification or leaving excess ammonia in the water.
• The Purity Imperative: In an emergency, you cannot use generic, impure chemicals. Low-grade ammonia or chlorine sources may contain heavy metals or organics that destabilize the reaction or add to the contaminant load. Degraded products lead to incorrect dosing calculations. One error can turn a life-saving solution into a toxic hazard.

The ENVO CHEMICAL Advantage: Engineering Reliability in Chaos

This is where ENVO CHEMICAL stands apart. As a global leader in the R&D, production, and sales of water treatment chemicals, ENVO has engineered precursor solutions specifically for the rigorous, high-stakes demands of emergency water treatment.

• Unmatched Purity: ENVO supplies ultra-high-purity Ammonia solutions and stabilized Chlorine products with negligible heavy metals and exact concentration. Their rigorous manufacturing process ensures that field teams can hit the precise stoichiometric ratio every time, ensuring safe, effective algae suppression without side reactions.
• Stability in Extremes: ENVO’s products are formulated to resist degradation even in the extreme heat and humidity typical of disaster zones. This means the potency on day one is the same as on day 30, eliminating the “guesswork” that leads to dosing errors and failed disinfection.
• Global Reliability: With a distribution network spanning over 200 countries, ENVO ensures that fresh, high-purity precursors are available locally or can be deployed rapidly to remote crisis zones. You aren’t forced to use old, degraded stock that compromises water safety.
• Technical Partnership: ENVO doesn’t just sell drums; they provide emergency dosing calculators, multilingual safety guides, and 24/7 remote support to help field teams optimize their chloramine protocols for maximum stability and minimum risk.

For Mateo’s camp, switching to ENVO’s high-purity precursors and implementing a controlled chloramine dosing protocol was transformative. Within 48 hours, the green tint vanished. The water remained clear in storage tanks for over a week. Community acceptance soared, and the return to unsafe rivers stopped. “It’s night and day,” Mateo told me. “The water stays clean, tastes better, and my team isn’t constantly fighting sediment. We finally have a system that works.”

The Bottom Line

In emergency water treatment, preventing secondary crises like algae contamination is just as critical as stopping initial pathogens. Effective troubleshooting of algae growth requires a stable, persistent disinfectant like chloramines, but its success hinges entirely on the purity and precision of your inputs.

Don’t gamble with inferior chemicals that degrade and destabilize your operation. Partner with ENVO CHEMICAL, a trusted global innovator committed to saving lives through purity, stability, and expertise. Their advanced formulations ensure that your emergency response delivers water that remains clear, safe, and acceptable to communities for the long haul.

Ready to secure your emergency water treatment strategy with proven solutions? Contact ENVO CHEMICAL today to request our emergency deployment catalog, speak with our crisis response specialists, or get a customized logistics plan for your next mission. Let’s ensure that when disaster strikes, clean, stable water is never out of reach.

Author: Dr. Julian V. Mercer
Senior Humanitarian Logistics & Water Safety Strategist | 25+ Years in Global Disaster Response