The small organic byproducts associated with drinking water disinfection can cause problems in addition to adverse health effects. This has led to an intensive search for alternative water treatment practices which not only maintain or improve current levels of microbiological safety, but also reduce or eliminate chemical byproducts resulting from the oxidation process. Evidence is presented in the paper that a particular subset of these compounds provide a nutrient source for bacteria in potable water. Further, the subset of compounds is consistently formed when any of the common water disinfectants (oxidants) are employed (e.g. chlorine, ozone, chlorine dioxide). Comparable data is not available for TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation processes.