G2 ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been carried out to study the potential energy surfaces (PESs) associated with the reactions of Cl+ in its 3P ground state and in its 1D first excited state with water. Similar to what was found for the reactions involving F+, the [H2,Cl,O]+ triplet state cations are weakly bound species, while the corresponding singlets are covalently bound species. As a consequence, although the PES of Cl+(3P) lies 33.0 kcal/mol below that of the Cl+(1D), the global minimum of the singlet potential energy surface lies 34.0 kcal/mol below the global triplet minimum. We have also found significant differences between the [H2,Cl,O]+ species and their fluorine-containing homologs regarding both their bonding and relative stabilities. These differences are more pronounced in the case of the triplets where the relative stabilities of the [H2,F,O]+ minima are completely reversed when fluorine is replaced by chlorine. As a result, most of the products of the reactions of F+ with ...