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CHARACTERIZING TOXICOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT DRINKING WATER DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCTS

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http://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_comments.cfm

Impact/Purpose:

(1) Use a toxicity-based approach to prioritize and identify DBPs that show the greatest toxic response. (2) Comprehensively identify DBPs formed by different disinfectant regimes for the 'Four Lab Study'. (3) Determine the mechanisms of formation for potentially hazardous bromonitromethane DBPs.

Description:

Due to concerns over trihalomethanes (THMs) and other halogenated by-products that can be formed during chlorination of drinking water, alternative disinfectants are being explored. Several drinking water treatment plants in the United States have altered their treatment methods and adopted alternative disinfectants in order to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation that limits the level of THMs in drinking water to 0.08 ppm. There is only very limited information concerning what chemical disinfection by-products (DBPs) are produced from these alternative disinfectants. The goal of this research is 1) to identify previously unknown DBPs resulting from the use of alternative disinfectants alone and in combination with chlorine and 2) determine their mechanism of formation.

This research will have three parts (divided into subtasks):



(1) Identify previously undiscovered DBPs using a toxicity-based approach

(2) Comprehensively identify DBPs formed by different disinfectant regimes for the 'Four Lab Study' (Study involving the collaboration of the four national laboratories of EPA to chemically and toxicologically characterize complex DBP mixtures)

(3) Determine the critical factors in the formation of bromonitromethane DBPs, which have been recently shown to be extremely cytotoxic and genotoxic to mammalian cells.

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT
Start Date:10/01/2005
Projected Completion Date:09/01/2007
OMB Category:Other
Record ID: 113788