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Communicating human health risks associated with disinfection by-products in drinking water supplies: a fuzzy-based approach

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Abstract

Chlorine used for the disinfection of water supplies can react with naturally occurring organic compounds and form potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs). A risk index for two regulated groups of chlorinated DBPs—trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs), using fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm and fuzzy rule-based modeling is proposed for risk communication. The proposed index evaluates the cancer and non-cancer risks individually for THMs and HAAs using the FCM algorithm. Subsequently, two different fuzzy rule-bases were used to evaluate the overall risk-index based on cancer and non-cancer risks. The overall risk-index will provide drinking water utilities with an effective communication tool for communicating aggregated water quality compliance. Simulated DBP occurrence data obtained from the City of Quebec, Canada, is used to demonstrate the application of this methodology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Infrastructure Program, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Rehan Sadiq

  2. École Supérieure d’Aménagement du Territoire, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada

    Manuel J. Rodriguez

  3. Centre of Sustainable Infrastructure Research, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Regina, SK, Canada

    Syed A. Imran

  4. School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Homayoun Najjaran

Authors
  1. Rehan Sadiq
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  2. Manuel J. Rodriguez
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  3. Syed A. Imran
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  4. Homayoun Najjaran
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Correspondence to Rehan Sadiq.

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Sadiq, R., Rodriguez, M.J., Imran, S.A. et al. Communicating human health risks associated with disinfection by-products in drinking water supplies: a fuzzy-based approach. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 21, 341–353 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-006-0069-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-006-0069-y

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