History of Disinfection Byproducts

This chapter briefly reviews the history of water chlorination, early disinfection byproduct (DBP) studies, and global DBP regulations. The evolution of research concerning several classes of DBPs, including trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, emerging DBPs, ozonation DBPs, and their artifacts are summarized. Selected information associated with conferences and books related to DBPs are also summarized for the readers’ reference. Also summarized are the maximum acceptable DBP concentrations reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and in DBP regulations of the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan, and China.