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Multi-pathway Risk Assessment of Trihalomethanes Exposure in Drinking Water Supplies

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Trends in Asian Water Environmental Science and Technology

Abstract

Disinfection is the last step in the water treatment processes for the protection of public health. In India, chlorine is used as the primary disinfectant because of its low cost and convenience for application in water purification. However, chlorination results in formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water which can pose severe health threat due to their potential carcinogenicity. In recent decades, various epidemiological studies have been conducted to determine the relationship between THMs and different health outcomes e.g., cancers and reproductive outcomes (Hrudey 2009). Llopis-González et al. (2011) suggested that exposure to THMs increase the risk of bladder, colon, rectum, leukemia, stomach and rectal cancers. The results of animal studies have demonstrated that liver, kidney and intestinal tumorigenesis are associated with chronic ingestion of THMs (Yang et al. 2000). Since THMs are the most prevalent and well documented disinfection by product (DBP) compounds in drinking water, they are generally considered as indicators of DBP exposure in epidemiological investigations.

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Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (GOI), New Delhi for providing financial grant for carrying out the research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India

    Minashree Kumari & S. K. Gupta

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  1. Minashree Kumari
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  2. S. K. Gupta
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Correspondence to Minashree Kumari .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Water Environment Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Futoshi Kurisu

  2. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    AL. Ramanathan

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India

    Absar Ahmad Kazmi

  4. Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur Central University, Tezpur, Assam, India

    Manish Kumar

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Kumari, M., Gupta, S.K. (2017). Multi-pathway Risk Assessment of Trihalomethanes Exposure in Drinking Water Supplies. In: Kurisu, F., Ramanathan, A., Kazmi, A., Kumar, M. (eds) Trends in Asian Water Environmental Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39259-2_19

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