Unraveling the chemodiversity of halogenated disinfection by-products formed during drinking water treatment using target and non-target screening tools

Molecular changes among non-volatile disinfection by-products between drinking water treatment and consumer taps

“…31 However, for the DWTPs using chloramine in this study, such volatile DBPs were rarely detected. 17,32 Through model-based experiments, aimed to explain changes in total organic halogen balances, the pathway that was suggested to lead to significant decay during chloramination (i.e., ∼15% of Cl-DBPs and ∼33% of Br-DBPs), was hydrolytic reactions leading to decomposition, 27 i.e., resulting in an altogether decrease in halogenated organic compounds. Such reactions can be catalyzed by dehalogenase enzymes during biodegradation, the rates of which increase with higher total organic carbon levels and availability of nutrients, such as phosphate, as observed for haloacetic acids.…”

“…13 A multitude of DBPs have already been detected at drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) through such non-targeted screening approaches. [14][15][16][17][18][19] But the fate of these compounds in the distribution system remains uncertain, as well as if samples taken at the DWTP reflect exposure and risks to consumers at the point-of-use.…”

Disinfection byproducts formed during drinking water treatment reveal an export control point for dissolved organic matter in a subalpine headwater stream

“…The presence of DBPs is a prominent concern for municipal treatment facilities ( AWWA, 2020 ), but formation can be mitigated through a variety of approaches that target additional removal of dissolved organic carbon or with the adoption of alternative disinfection processes. While prior studies have focused on DBP reduction by changing conventional unit processes during drinking water treatment ( Andersson et al., 2020 ; Postigo et al., 2021 ; Zhang et al., 2021 ), those methods present an additional economic and infrastructure burden that can be particularly pronounced for smaller facilities. In addition, disinfection methods that use alternatives to chlorine can form other, less understood byproducts ( Richardson and Plewa, 2020 ).…”

Increased Organohalogen Diversity after Disinfection of Water from a Prescribed Burned Watershed

“…In addition to trihalomethane (THM), haloacetic acid (HAA), N-nitroso dimethylamine (NDMA), and other known DBP yields, we also need to know changes to the chemodiversity of new unknown DBPs. 8,13,14 Postigo et al 15 reported that most of the organic halogen content in chlorinated and chloraminated drinking water samples did not account for commonly measured DBPs and identified new DBP species, including highly unsaturated and polyphenolic compounds. 15 Here, we evaluated two parallel first-order watersheds in a coastal forest in South Carolina, where one watershed was under prescribed burn management.…”