Component-based and whole-mixture techniques for addressing the toxicity of drinking-water disinfection by-product mixtures.
Chemical disinfection of water is of direct public health benefit as it results in decreased water-borne illness. The chemicals used to disinfect water react with naturally occurring organic matter, bromide, and iodide in the source water, resulting in the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs). Despite the identification of several hundred DBPs, more than 50% of the mass of total organic halide formed during chlorination remains unidentified. The toxic contribution of the DBPs that are formed and present but not yet chemically identified, the unidentified fraction, has been largely unexplored. A better understanding of the potential for adverse human health consequences associated with exposure to the DBPs present in drinking water will be gained by integration of knowledge on the toxicity of individual DBPs; simple, defined DBP mixtures; complex, environmentally realistic DBP mixtures with partial chemical characterization; and the unidentified fraction.
Simmons
Jane Ellen
JE
National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, USA. Simmons.Jane@epa.gov
Teuschler
Linda K
LK
Gennings
Chris
C
Speth
Thomas F
TF
Richardson
Susan D
SD
Miltner
Richard J
RJ
Narotsky
Michael G
MG
Schenck
Kathleen D
KD
Hunter
E Sidney
ES
Hertzberg
Richard C
RC
Rice
Glenn
G
D017606:Chlorine Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D018508:Water Purification; D014881:Water Supply
D017606:Chlorine Compounds; D004202:Disinfectants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical