A comparison of sodium sulfite, ammonium chloride, and ascorbic acid for quenching chlorine prior to disinfection byproduct analysis

This study compared 3 commonly used quenching agents for dechlorinating samples prior to disinfection byproduct (DBP) analysis under typical drinking water sampling conditions for a representative suite of chlorination byproducts. Ascorbic acid and sodium sulfite quenched the residual free chlorine to below detection within 5 seconds. Ammonium chloride did not quench the chlorine to below detection with up to a 70% molar excess, which agrees with published ammonium chloride-chlorine chemistry. With respect to the DBPs, ascorbic acid worked well for the trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, except for dibromoiodomethane, which exhibited 2.6–28% error when using ascorbic acid compared to non-quenched control samples. Sodium sulfite also worked well for the trihalomethanes (and performed similarly to ascorbic acid for dibromoiodomethane) and was the best performing quenching agent for MX and the inorganic DBPs, but contributed to the decay of several emerging DBPs, including several halonitromethanes and haloacetamides. Ammonium chloride led to considerable errors for many DBPs, including 27–31% errors in chloroform concentrations after 24 hours of storage. This work shows that ascorbic acid is suitable for many of the organic DBPs analyzed by gas chromatography-electron capture detection and that sodium sulfite may be used for simultaneous chlorite, chlorate, and bromate analysis.

Relationship between organic precursors and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) formation in tropical water sources

The presence of organic compounds in water sources is one of the concerns in water treatment. They are potential precursors of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and thus induce health problems in humans. Among the emerging DBPs, carcinogenic compound N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) has been receiving attention during the last decade. This study examined the characteristics of organic components in various water sources and investigated their relationships with NDMA formation. Experiments were carried out on selected water samples from both natural water and wastewater. Results showed similar NDMA formation kinetics for both water sources. However, more contribution of NDMA precursors was found to be from the wastewater due to its higher organic nitrogen content. NDMA formation potential (NDMAFP) of secondary effluent ranged from 264 to 530 ng/L. A correlation study between organic compound characteristics and NDMAFP indicated that the majority of NDMA precursors came from dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) compound with small molecular weight (smaller than 500 Da), with correlation R2 = 0.898. Although secondary treatment removed more than 90% of NDMA precursors, the remaining precursors in secondary effluent would still pose a challenge for water quality.

New disinfection by-product issues: emerging DBPs and alternative routes of exposure

This paper discusses current issues with drinking water disinfection by-products (DBPs), which include emerging (unregulated) DBPs that can be formed at greater levels with alternative disinfectants (as compared to chlorine) and routes of human exposure (which include inhalation and dermal exposure studies, in addition to ingestion). Health effects driving DBP research include the recently observed reproductive/developmental effects (including spontaneous abortion) observed in epidemiologic studies, as well as the discrepancy between the types of cancer observed in animal studies for regulated DBPs (mostly liver cancer) and the types of cancer observed in human epidemiologic studies (mostly bladder cancer). Emerging DBPs discussed in this paper include iodo-acids, bromonitromethanes, iodo-trihalomethanes (THMs), brominated forms of MX, bromoamides, a bromopyrrole, and nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and other nitrosamines. Recent toxicity studies have revealed that several of these DBPs are more genotoxic (in isolated cells) than many of the DBPs currently regulated, and new occurrence data have revealed that many of these DBPs can, in some cases, be present at levels comparable to regulated DBPs. Of the alternative disinfectants, chloramination appears to increase the formation of iodo-acids, iodo-THMs, and NDMA and other nitrosamines, relative to chlorine. Preozonation appears to increase the formation of halonitromethanes.

The formation and control of emerging disinfection by-products of health concern

When drinking water treatment plants disinfect water, a wide range of disinfection by-products (DBPs) of health and regulatory concern are formed. Recent studies have identified emerging DBPs (e.g. iodinated trihalomethanes (THMs) and acids, haloacetonitriles, halonitromethanes (HNMs), haloacetaldehydes, nitrosamines) that may be more toxic than some of the regulated ones (e.g. chlorine- and bromine-containing THMs and haloacetic acids). Some of these emerging DBPs are associated with impaired drinking water supplies (e.g. impacted by treated wastewater, algae, iodide). In some cases, alternative primary or secondary disinfectants to chlorine (e.g. chloramines, chlorine dioxide, ozone, ultraviolet) that minimize the formation of some of the regulated DBPs may increase the formation of some of the emerging by-products. However, optimization of the various treatment processes and disinfection scenarios can allow plants to control to varying degrees the formation of regulated and emerging DBPs. For example, pre-disinfection with chlorine, chlorine dioxide or ozone can destroy precursors for N -nitrosodimethylamine, which is a chloramine by-product, whereas pre-oxidation with chlorine or ozone can oxidize iodide to iodate and minimize iodinated DBP formation during post-chloramination. Although pre-ozonation may increase the formation of trihaloacetaldehydes or selected HNMs during post-chlorination or chloramination, biofiltration may reduce the formation potential of these by-products.