Drinking Water Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs) and Human Health Effects: Multidisciplinary Challenges and Opportunities

While drinking water disinfection has effectively prevented waterborne diseases, an unintended consequence is the generation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Epidemiological studies have consistently observed an association between consumption of chlorinated drinking water with an increased risk o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental science & technology Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 1681 - 1689
Main Authors Li, Xing-Fang, Mitch, William A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 20.02.2018
Subjects
Algae
Algal blooms
Bladder
Bladder cancer
By products
Byproducts
Cancer
Chemists
chlorination
Disinfectants
Disinfection
Disinfection & disinfectants
Drinking water
effluents
epidemiological studies
Epidemiology
Eutrophication
Health risks
human health
risk
Switching
Toxicity
Trihalomethanes
urinary bladder neoplasms
Utilities
Wastewater
Water conservation
Water pollution effects
Water supply
Water treatment
waterborne diseases
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Summary:While drinking water disinfection has effectively prevented waterborne diseases, an unintended consequence is the generation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Epidemiological studies have consistently observed an association between consumption of chlorinated drinking water with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Out of the >600 DBPs identified, regulations focus on a few classes, such as trihalomethanes (THMs), whose concentrations were hypothesized to correlate with the DBPs driving the toxicity of disinfected waters. However, the DBPs responsible for the bladder cancer association remain unclear. Utilities are switching away from a reliance on chlorination of pristine drinking water supplies to the application of new disinfectant combinations to waters impaired by wastewater effluents and algal blooms. In light of these changes in disinfection practice, this article discusses new approaches being taken by analytical chemists, engineers, toxicologists and epidemiologists to characterize the DBP classes driving disinfected water toxicity, and suggests that DBP exposure should be measured using other DBP classes in addition to THMs.
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ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.7b05440