Balancing Soil Microbe Health and Practicality in a Hoop House

Our city uses chloramines in the tap water, which are more persistent than chlorine and therefore requires a filter to remove. I need to set up a drip irrigation system for my hoop house with that water, but the water flow when it passes through the filter is way too low to water the hoop house efficiently. Without the filter the water flow is 6.5 gallons/minute and with the filter it is less than 2 gallons/minute. With the filter, the water would need to be on for 40 hours a week to water the in the hoop house sufficiently. I was reading online that soil microbe populations bounce back pretty quickly after being watered with chlorine. So people say that it is fine to water with unfiltered tap water. Do you know if that is any different for chloramine? The issue is that in the hoop house the ONLY water it receives is from the tap, vs outside where tap water is only a supplement when there isn't enough rain. So I am wondering if it is even more important to use the chloramine filter for water that is going into the hoop house. The other thing is that my hoop house has had a history of having terrible soil that is pretty hydrophobic, and I am starting to think it is because the biology in the soil hasn't been taken care of. Do you think it would be sufficient to use unfiltered water (so it is containing chloramines, but allowing for larger flow) immediately followed by an application of compost tea? (the tea would be made with filtered water) Or are there filters that do not reduce the flow so dramatically?
This is a link to the filter I currently have: https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Hose-Filter-Chloramines-Pesticides/dp/B007I6MN72

Fun lesson.  What you posted didn't match my understanding so just took a googling lesson in chloramines and you were right and my understanding was faulty.  I originally thought chloramines were  by product of treatment with chlorine and wasn't aware that they were also added for water sterilization.

Looked at dozens of  articles but this one sort of sums it up.  

chloramine removal

That said the common chemical treatments would cause an increase in salt in your soil so for both expense and salt build up are not workable.

UV treatment might work but it takes long exposures so likely not valid.

And the others are knocked off for similar reasons.

So that leaves the catalytic carbon filters as your best option still.  If the flow rate is not good enough can you simply put more in parallel?  4 of them in parallel should get you the flow rate you want.  Since they are processing the same number of gallons either way life expectancy per filter should be the same so you should only have to change them out 1/4 as often.  One question here is have you checked your water quality out of the filters?  The articles seem to say the water needs to move really slowly thru the filters for most effective removal.  

The other answer I see is can you automate your watering system?  40 hours a week watering doesn't sound like a problem if you are not involved in the process.

If you test your output water you might find you need 8 or 10 filters in parallel and to water continuously under automation to get slow enough flow for the filters to do the job.

My problem is that I want higher flow rate but I can't get high flow with the filter.  I think if I put several filters in a row I would get even lower flow or the same flow as with one filter. My garden is in an unfortunate situation because I have one water source to water the hoop house as well as all the outdoor space, so I can't afford the time it would take to have the water going only to the hoop house for most of the week.

But that is a good point that the water needs to flow slowly through the filter to really be effective. So maybe my situation doesn't allow for chloramine filtration at all? Maybe I just need to try weekly treatments of compost tea and see if that supplements what is killed by the chloramines. I really want to know HOW detrimental chloramines are to the soil biology. Some people say they are tied up by soil organic matter and aren't harmful at all. I will do some testing, though, to see what the chloramine levels are coming out of the filter.

Elizabeth, I'm not sure whether this will help you, but I will share my experience growing in a polytunnel (hoop house).  We're off mains here so I use a combination of leaky hose irrigation by syphon from a nearby burn, and spot watering with a watering can.
At first I gardened in there fairly tidily, but I have got messier and messier as time has gone on and now practice chop and drop with most plants, with a four quarter rotation with also lots of perennial plants. The surface debris protects the soil from the heat, and I have quite a lot of fungal activity in the soil now, and dig as little as possible to preserve the soil structure.
Anyway my suggestion is to consider mulching the soil surface to reduce the need for watering.  It doesn't solve the chloramine issue, but might reduce the watering requirements a bit.

I think  that C.Letellier had a great idea, of splitting the flow from the water source into four separate outlets, and putting a filter on each separate outlet, rather than putting 4 filters in a row.
There are many 4 way hose splitters available for sale, or you can combine 3 two way splitters for a similar end product.

Nancy also has an excellent point, 2 gallons a minute for 40 hours works out to 4800 gallons, a lot of water, enough to fill a pool   5 deep and 12 feet across, unless I messed up my math.
You might need that much water, but the filter you linked to is only rated 10,000 gallons, so it won't very long.
You don't say where you live,but if its a very hot dry place maybe consider covering the hoophouse with shade cloth.

If it were my hoophouse, I think would add gutters and rain barrels, plus gravity fed drip irrigation.
A hose connected to the filter and a float  valve could top up the barrels when needed.


Another alternative is vitamin c.
1000 mg is said to be enough to neutralize the water in a bathtub.

Gutters are a good idea, I will look into that. It is a pretty big hoop house, but you are right, it probably wouldn't need that much water. I live in Michigan, so it isn't crazy hot, but it does get hot in the hoop in the middle of summer. I do try to keep a layer of mulch on the ground at all times, but I will be more diligent about that this year and see how things go.

Collecting rainwater and not dealing with the city water at all would have been my suggestion also. There are various ways to do so, not just by adding gutters to the tunnel. There is a thread on this forum somewhere about various ways to collect rainwater, with pictures. One of them shows  4x4s put into the ground and a metal roof put on at a slant which collects the water plenty. Have it go into IBC totes, and you should be all set. And if you place the totes a bit off the ground, you should get a decent amount of pressure, I would think.