Talk:Disinfection by-product

WHO report

If someone has the time and background to shovel through a lot of reading: The WHO has published an extensive report (+updat4es) [1] most interesting part chapter 8 from p 36 onwards [2]. Don't know if the updates have relevant info [3]. We can't take the text directly because it is copyrighted. Excerpts should be o.k. with a little re-wording. (Sorry, but this is a bit to much for me to DIY. I hope s.o. will find this and have a bit of time to spare.) 76.97.245.5 (talk) 15:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I've tried to make a few edits, at least. I worked in this field for some time and have some knowledge of the occurrence, regulation and health effects (particularly the latter). I'll do my best to make more revisions as and when I have some time.Jimjamjak (talk) 15:08, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Life expectancy

"That being said, in countries where life expectancy exceeds 70 years, some disinfection byproducts may be harmful."

The methodology that is used to derive the guidelines standards of the USEPA does indeed use the 70-year average lifetime exposure as a means of calculating cancer risks for use in assessment. The guideline limits however, only suggest that exposure for those 70-years will not exceed a 1 in 10^6 chance of developing (a non-specific) cancer. Therefore it does not make sense to discuss risk existing after 70 years, but not before: the models are continuous. I have removed the statement for this reason.Jimjamjak (talk) 14:23, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

removal

can DBPs be removed by water filtration, distillation, or reverse osmosis? Seems like it'd be a good thing to note in the article. --75.73.176.26 (talk) 22:18, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Good point. All of these methods may be used to remove some DBPs from drinking water. I'll see if I can find some citable papers on this and add some information.Jimjamjak (talk) 11:17, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Chlorination versus chloramination

Chloramination does produce "disinfection byproducts" as a general category, but I think the problem is less serious than with chlorination that produces a free chlorine residual (that is, hypochlorous acid and/or hypochlorite ion). Oaklandguy (talk) 20:58, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Non-chlorinating disinfectants; UV light

I believe that when ozone is added to waters (other than distilled or similar), the ozone reacts with chloride ion (which is virtually always present) to form hypochlorite. Therefore, many of the same chemical species produced by chlorination will also be produced by ozonation. However, the concentrations are much lower.

Ultraviolet light is another method of disinfection. Some claim that there is no chemical byproduct from UV disinfection. I don't think this is correct, although as with ozonation, the concentrations would be much lower than in chlorinated water.

This needs further work. I am basing these statements on the general principles. I suppose experiments have been conducted, but I haven't taken the time to find the relevant references. Oaklandguy (talk) 21:10, 5 March 2014 (UTC)