Relationships between raw water quality, treatment, and occurrence of organics in Canadian potable water.

Abstract

The occurrence of organic contaminants in potable water is of concern since ingestion of such compounds may pose a hazard to human health. To aid in health hazard assessment, Canadian potable water supplies have been surveyed for the occurrence of organic compounds, such as, the trihalomethanes (WILLIAMS et al. 1980) and n i t r i l o t r i a c e t i c acid (MALAIYANDI et al. 1979). A wide range of organics have been reported to occur in potable water (GARRISON et al. 1978) and sources of such contaminants have been discussed (e.g., DEINZER et al. 1978, WAGGOTT & WHEATLAND 1978). The relat ionships between the occurrence of organics, raw water qual i ty , and treatment practices have been investigated (e.g. SYMDNS et al. 1975, WILLIAMS et al. 1980, OTSON et al. 1981). However, such studies have been l imited, generally, to the occurrence of trihalomethanes (THM). During a recent survey of water at 30 Canadian potable water treatment f a c i l i t i e s , the occurrence of about 40 vo la t i le organics was investigated (OTSON et al. 1982). Subsequently, data obtained from questionnaires completed during the survey were used to explore the relat ionships between the occurrence of organics, water qual i ty , and treatment practices. Results of these investigations are now reported.