DBP levels in India: A review of available data and challenges in monitoring

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are the result of the chemical reactions that take place between the disinfectants such as chlorine, chloramines, or ozone and the inorganic reactants in the water during the water treatment processes. One the one hand, disinfection is an important process in killing waterborne pathogens while on the other, the unintended creation of DBPs has turned out to be a serious obstacle to the achievement of water quality and safety goals. The most common DBPs are trihalomethane (THM), haloacetic acids (HAAs), chlorites, and brominated compounds. Each group of these chemicals has a separate formation pathway, yet they are regulated mostly by three factors namely water temperature, pH, and the concentration of chloride, bromide or iodide ions. THMs are the first chemicals which were classified as DBPs followed by HAAs which are equally serious disinfection by-products. The issue of DBPs become an agenda of discussion right from the early 1970s when exposure to chloroform (THMs) was reported to lead to cancer formation in some rats. DBPs are the most likely of the pollutants to exhibit negative health effects in various parts of the body, which includes tumor formation, liver injury, nephropathy as well as reproductive toxicity. To minimize the spread of these pollutants, governmental institutions such as USEPA and WHO have set standards concerning the contamination levels with disinfection by-products in safe drinking water. This review paper takes off with an overview of the DBPs studies in India and ventures into the complications in proper monitoring of DBP levels in India. published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES