Route of Exposure, Mechanism of Action, and Toxicological and Human Health Impacts of Disinfection By-Products

Disinfection of water is considered as the greatest public health achievement of the twentieth century since it greatly decreased waterborne sickness and raised life expectancy. However, an unforeseen result was the production of DBPs, which are created when disinfectants (such as chlorine, chloramine, ozone, chlorine dioxide, and UV) react with organic matter that is both naturally occurring and man-made, bromide and iodide. Treatment of water for purification process also invites a lot of harmful diseases due to the by-products that are formed during the process. Trihalomethanes are considered to be dominant by-product which is associated with non-neoplastic toxic effects. High dose of the four most common trihalomethanes, i.e., chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform, has also shown lethal to rodents in chronic investigations of high doses. These by-products have also shown kidney toxicities affecting the vital functions. As a salt, dichloroacetic acid present in potable water is a strong by-product of chlorination which has shown to harness neural, hepatic, reproductive, and developmental growth of human beings. Other by-products like tricholoroacetic acid and brominated haloacetic acid have also shown various toxicological effects. The spread of illnesses like infertility, asthma, stillbirth, and other types of cancer has also been attributed to the discharge of toxins. Reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration are three innovative strategies that have been discovered to be effective in offsetting the production of harmful by-products. The toxicological consequences of DBPs and various strategies to ameliorate them are the major topics of this chapter. The health risks brought on by various DBPs are examined, as well as the numerous removal methods.