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Disinfection By-Products and Drinking Water Treatment
Citation:
RICHARDSON, S. D. Disinfection By-Products and Drinking Water Treatment. Chapter , J. Forare (ed.), Drinking Water - Sources, Sanitation and Safeguarding. Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning, Stockholm, Sweden, , 92-101, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
Characterize risks associated with drinking water sources; treatment; distribution; and use.
Description:
The disinfection of drinking water has been rightly hailed as a public health triumph of the 20th century. Before its widespread use, millions of people died from waterborne diseases. Now, people in developed nations receive quality drinking water every day from their public water systems. However, chemical disinfection has also produced an unintended health hazard: the potential for cancer and reproductive and developmental effects (including early-term miscarriages and birth defects) that are associated with chemical disinfection by-products (DBPs). Research is being conducted worldwide to solve these important human health issues. Chemical disinfectants, like chlorine, ozone, chloramines, and chlorine dioxide, are used to kill harmful pathogens in drinking water, and produce safe, potable water. However, these disinfectants are also powerful oxidants, and can chemically react with the naturally occurring organic matter (mostly present from decaying leaves and other plant matter), and also bromide and iodide salts naturally present in some source waters (rivers, lakes, and groundwaters). Chlorine, ozone, chlorine dioxide, and chloramines are the most common disinfectants in use today, and each produces its own suite of DBPs in drinking water. Two non-chemical means of disinfecting drinking water—UV light and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes—are also gaining in popularity for disinfecting water, and these technologies may hold promise in reducing levels of DBPs formed in drinking water.
