Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are a potential source of disinfection byproducts
(DBPs) and DBP precursors (i.e., effluent organic matter [EfOM]) in many watersheds through
the U.S. and the world. The presence of wastewater discharges in watersheds impacts drinking
WTPs (DWTPs) that rely upon those watersheds for drinking water supplies. Therefore, the fate
of DBPs and DBP precursors in watersheds is important to understand. Although several
biogeochemical processes (i.e., sorption to sediment, volatilization, hydrolysis, biodegradation,
photolysis) could potentially reduce the levels of DBPs and DBP precursors in receiving waters,
upon careful review of the literature and based on modeling efforts, it was concluded that for
most DBPs and DBP precursors that biodegradation and photolysis of these materials would
dominate their fate in receiving waters with short residence times between WWTP discharges
and DWTP intakes. Of course, for some DBPs (i.e., trihalomethanes [THMs]) volatilization
would be significant. However, for many of the "emerging" DBPs of potential health concern,
they are more polar than THMs and, hence, have very low Henry's Law constants and would not
be very volatile.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the change in regulated and emerging DBPs
(THMs, haloacetic acids [HAAs], nitrosamines, haloacetonitriles [HANs], haloketones,
haloacetaldehydes, and halonitromethanes) and changes in DBP formation potential (FP) (i.e.,
DBP precursors) during kinetic biodegradation and sunlight photolysis experiments. In addition,
the impact on the EfOM was followed by measurements of dissolved organic carbon (DOC),
dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and ultraviolet absorbance (UVA) at 254 nm. Includes tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
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| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 24 |
| Published : | 06/01/2006 |
