Drinking water and health: Disinfectants and disinfectant by-products. Volume 7
Studies of the toxicity of the by-products of disinfectants have focused on the trihalomethanes (THMs), which are formed during chlorination and for which considerable data on carcinogenicity have been developed. The level of total THMs in finished drinking water, currently regulated at 100 micrograms/L, should be reduced. Noting that chloroform is the principal THM produced by chlorination, the subcommittee found this level to be unsupportable on the basis of the risk values for chloroform developed in this review. Other, non-volatile by-products of chlorination may be important in contributing mutagenic properties to drinking water, especially when the natural water being treated contains high levels of organic matter. Short-term animal skin tests, although not conclusive, provide indications that organic concentrates from chlorinated water are tumorigenic under some experimental conditions. Unfortunately, many by-products of chlorination and other disinfection practices have not been identified. Consequently, the risks of ingesting cannot be quantified at present, but are potentially high enough to warrant continued efforts to analyze them. The use of alternative methods of drinking water disinfection is increasing, largely due to health and regulatory concerns about trihalomethanes. Thus, the nature and toxicity of the by-products of some other widely used water treatments (chloramination, ozonation, and chlorine dioxide) are also evaluated in the report to the extent allowed by available data. The subcommittee calculated quantitative risk assessment for disinfectants or their by-products when there was sufficient data.
- OSTI ID:
- 5713042
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
DISINFECTANTS
BY-PRODUCTS
DRINKING WATER
CHLORINATION
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
CARCINOGENESIS
CHLOROFORM
OZONIZATION
RISK ASSESSMENT
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
GERMICIDES
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HALOGENATION
HAZARDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PATHOGENESIS
WATER
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology