Watercalcs
Estimates only — verify before relying on results. Terms of Use
v1.0
How to use — Tank dechlorination

Use this for a fixed volume of chlorinated water in a tank, reservoir or basin. Two common jobs:

  • Pre-discharge: neutralise chlorine before releasing water to the environment or a stormwater system.
  • Overdose correction: pull a chlorine overdose back down to a target residual before returning the tank to service.

Enter the tank volume, the measured chlorine residual and your target. Pick an agent and how you will dose it. The tool returns the quantity to add, the environmental impact of any excess, and mixing and verification guidance.

The tool does the maths — you enter what you can measure on site.

Water volume

Chlorine

mg/L
Expressed as Cl₂
mg/L
Use 0 for discharge; use your service residual for overdose correction
pH impact — optional

Enter what you know. With starting pH and alkalinity the tool predicts the pH after dosing. Temperature refines the estimate and the contact-time guidance.

mg/L
as CaCO₃
°C

Dechlorinating agent

g/L
Grams of agent per litre of made-up solution
%
A small excess guarantees zero residual; large excess wastes chemical and loads the environment
L/s
If you can recirculate, the tool estimates a mixing turnover time
How to use — Pipe / main dechlorination

Use this for chlorinated water in a pipeline. Two common jobs:

  • Emptying a line: a main carrying normal service water that must be drained down.
  • Commissioning a new main: a line that was superchlorinated for disinfection (often 25–50 mg/L held for a period) and must be dechlorinated before the flush water is discharged.

Batch mode treats the standing volume in the line. Continuous injection mode gives a dosing rate for feeding agent into a flush stream at the discharge point.

Chlorine is acutely toxic to aquatic life at very low concentrations, so superchlorinated flush water must never reach a waterway untreated.

Job type

Pipe geometry

mm
m

Chlorine

mg/L
Expressed as Cl₂
mg/L
Use 0 for discharge
pH impact — optional

Enter what you know. With starting pH and alkalinity the tool predicts the pH after dosing. Temperature refines the estimate and the contact-time guidance.

mg/L
as CaCO₃
°C

Flush flow

L/s
Used to set the agent injection rate

Dechlorinating agent

g/L
Grams of agent per litre of made-up solution
%

About & chemistry

An operations aid for neutralising chlorine in tanks and pipelines before discharge or return to service.

Agent weight ratios

All doses derive from the balanced reaction of each agent with chlorine, expressed on a Cl₂ basis. The mg/mg column is milligrams of pure agent per milligram of Cl₂ removed; these are editable in Settings. The alk column is alkalinity destroyed (mg/L as CaCO₃) per mg/L of Cl₂ removed.

Agentmg/mgalkDO?

Reactions

SO₂ + Cl₂ + 2H₂O → H₂SO₄ + 2HCl Na₂SO₃ + Cl₂ + H₂O → Na₂SO₄ + 2HCl NaHSO₃ + Cl₂ + H₂O → NaHSO₄ + 2HCl Na₂S₂O₅ + 2Cl₂ + 3H₂O → 2NaHSO₄ + 4HCl Na₂S₂O₃ + 4Cl₂ + 5H₂O → 2NaHSO₄ + 8HCl C₆H₈O₆ + Cl₂ → C₆H₆O₆ + 2HCl

Thiosulphate is modelled on the complete-oxidation (sulphate) pathway, which dominates when chlorine is in excess — the usual dechlorination condition. At very low chlorine it partly oxidises only to tetrathionate and consumes far more agent, so a safety excess and a confirmatory test are advised.

Dissolved oxygen

The sulphur-based agents (SO₂, sulphite, bisulphite, metabisulphite, thiosulphate) are oxygen scavengers. Any excess that reaches the receiving water strips dissolved oxygen: about 0.23 mg/L of DO for every 1 mg/L (as Cl₂) of excess reducing capacity. On sensitive receiving waters this favours a tight safety excess, or an ascorbate, which does not consume oxygen.

pH & alkalinity

Every one of these reactions produces strong acid (HCl, and bisulphate or sulphuric acid), which consumes alkalinity and lowers pH. The acid load is fixed by the chlorine removed, not by the dose, so a safety excess does not add to it. If you enter starting pH and alkalinity the tool predicts the pH after dosing from the carbonate system, and warns when alkalinity is largely consumed and pH is at risk of crashing. Sodium ascorbate is the gentlest on pH; SO₂, bisulphite and metabisulphite are the harshest.

Temperature

Temperature has a secondary but real effect. Colder water slows the reactions — a minor issue for free chlorine, which reacts in seconds, but combined chlorine in cold water needs more contact time. Temperature also shifts the carbonate equilibrium constants used in the pH prediction, and colder water holds more dissolved oxygen, so a given oxygen draw from excess reductant is a smaller share of the baseline.

Reaction time

Free chlorine reacts with these agents in seconds once mixed — the limiting step is achieving complete mixing. Combined chlorine (chloramine) reacts more slowly; allow several minutes of contact before verifying.

Verify

Always re-test the residual after treatment and mixing, and confirm it meets your discharge consent or service target before releasing or returning to service.

Guidance tool only. Confirm doses against site procedures, product data sheets and your discharge consent. Chlorine receiving-water guideline triggers are very low (order 0.003 mg/L) — check the limit that applies to you.

Settings

%
Applied to new sessions

Agent weight ratios

mg of pure agent per mg of Cl₂ removed. Defaults are the stoichiometric values; adjust for a site-specific or product-specific figure.

Session