Philip
Singer
Daniel
A. Okun Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
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Few subjects have captured the attention of the waterworks industry and have been as far-reaching as the issue of disinfection by-products in drinking water. The fact that the addition of chemical disinfectants to water to inactivate disease-causing microorganisms produces compounds that may be harmful to human health has required intense scrutiny on the part of the waterworks industry and regulatory agencies to examine drinking water disinfection practices. For the past 28 years, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine the occurrence of disinfection by-products in finished drinking water, factors influencing the formation of different disinfection by-products, and treatment technologies and water quality management strategies for the control of disinfection by-products. This presentation will summarize various aspects of the formation and control of disinfection by-products, highlighting research conducted by the speaker and his students over the past 28 years. Primary attention will be directed at chlorination by-products, specifically the trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. Observations from controlled laboratory experiments and from field measurements at full-scale water treatment facilities will be presented. |