Detection Methods for DBPs

In the 50 years since the discovery of chloroform and other haloforms as drinking water disinfection products (DBPs), significant efforts have been made to develop sensitive and selective analytical methods for them and to determine the possible existence of other DBPs. Hundreds of DBPs have been identified and quantified, and yet this is still understood to be a small fraction of the total. The analytical advances that have been made are really too numerous to describe in detail in this chapter, so we do not provide an exhaustive review herein. Instead, we have provided overviews of the currently used procedures for measuring major classes of organic DBPs (e.g., gas, liquid, and ion chromatography) and inorganic or non-volatile DBPs (e.g., liquid chromatography, ion chromatography) with various detectors (e.g., electron capture, mass spectrometry, conductivity). Much greater detail concerning current analytical methods for all DBPs can be found in the documented standard methods that have been adopted by the scientific and regulatory organizations that are active in virtually every nation that produces drinking water. Also, with a view toward the future of this topic, the chapter ends with a look at an emerging non-targeted screening method, precursor ion scanning or PIS, which holds promise for providing a more comprehensive accounting of the chemical byproducts of water disinfection processes.