Premium
Disinfection in the Americas: A Necessity
Author(s) -
Otterstetter Horst,
Craun Gunther
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.1997.tb08282.x
Subject(s) - water disinfection , chlorine , waterborne diseases , water treatment , trihalomethane , public health , water source , environmental health , environmental science , waste management , environmental engineering , chemistry , water quality , medicine , water resource management , biology , engineering , ecology , nursing , organic chemistry
For more than 80 years, the disinfection of drinking water, primarily with chlorine, has been the cornerstone of public health programs to prevent waterborne infectious diseases. Until 1974, the only concerns about chlorination were how to apply it universally and how to improve its efficiency. Concerns began to change after the discovery that naturally occurring organic materials in some water sources react with chlorine to form chloroform and other trihalomethanes. As other disinfection byproducts (DBPs) were identified in treated drinking water, worries about potential health risks, especially cancer, that might be associated with disinfection have sometimes overshadowed the real threat of infectious waterborne diseases.