Abstract
BackgroundThe relationship between chlorination by-products (CBPs) in drinking water and human health outcomes has been investigated in many epidemiological studies. In these studies, population exposure assessment to CBPs in drinking water is generally based on available CBP data (e.g., from regulatory monitoring, sampling campaigns specific to study area). Since trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) are the most documented CBP classes in drinking water, they are generally used as indicators of CBP exposure.MethodsIn this paper, different approaches to spatially assign available THM and HAA concentrations in drinking water for population exposure assessment purposes are investigated. Six approaches integrating different considerations for spatial variability of CBP occurrence within different distribution systems are compared. For this purpose, a robust CBP database (i.e., high number of sampling locations selected according to system characteristics) corresponding to nine distribution systems was generated.Results and conclusionThe results demonstrate the high impact of the structure of the distribution system (e.g., presence of intermediary water infrastructures such as re-chlorination stations or reservoirs) and the spatial variability of CBPs in the assigned levels for exposure assessment. Recommendations for improving the exposure assessment to CBPs in epidemiological studies using available CBP data from water utilities are also presented.
Highlights
The relationship between chlorination by-products (CBPs) in drinking water and human health outcomes has been investigated in many epidemiological studies
CBP occurrence in the area under study Table 2 presents the total THMs (TTHMs) and HAA9 levels measured during the 2006-2008 period in the nine distribution systems under study
A similar pattern was observed for HAA9 with levels below those measured for TTHM, except for the AR, DE and QC systems (Table 2)
Summary
The relationship between chlorination by-products (CBPs) in drinking water and human health outcomes has been investigated in many epidemiological studies. In these studies, population exposure assessment to CBPs in drinking water is generally based on available CBP data (e.g., from regulatory monitoring, sampling campaigns specific to study area). In epidemiological studies focusing on THMs and HAAs in drinking water and human health outcomes, exposure misclassification can occur through the assessment of population exposure to these compounds and especially in the estimation of their levels in residential tap water [5,6,7]. With some differences according to region or country, regulatory compliance generally requires a minimum of quarterly CBP measurements at one to four sampling locations per distribution system [18,19,20]
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