Plenary, Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12)
The drinking water disinfection conundrum
Patricia Forbes Department of Chemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. E-mail: patricia.forbes@up.ac.za
The disinfection of drinking water is essential to protect human health. However, the disinfection process itself may lead to the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the water prior to consumption, which may be harmful even at trace levels. Some DBPs, such as trihalomethanes, have been regulated and therefore analysed in potable water for many years, whilst others are receiving more recent attention as analytical capabilities have advanced enabling their detection and identification. Nonetheless, analysis of these emerging DBPs is challenging as some are unstable or are difficult to detect at trace levels using typical analytical workflows employing gas or liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection 1 . In addition, DBP formation is dependent on the presence of precursors in the source water, such as natural organic matter (NOM), which is compositionally complex and exhibits high seasonal variability. Effective analysis of NOM is vital to enable adjustment of water treatment processes to ensure efficiency with varying source water quality. Challenges in DBP monitoring will be highlighted, with particular focus on developing countries where DBP analyses are limited 2 . Analytical approaches will be proposed, such as the extraction of haloacetic acid DBPs from water by sorbent impregnated thin films prior to analysis 3 . Key words: Disinfection byproduct; emerging water pollutant; nitrosamine; haloacetic acid; natural organic matter References 1. Patricia Forbes, Analysis of water disinfection byproducts – advances and challenges, Preface to the special issue: Disinfection byproducts, Trends in Analytical Chemistry , 2024, 180, 117982, DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2024.117982 2. Akhona Tyhali and Patricia B.C. Forbes, N-nitrosamines in surface and drinking waters: An African status report, Trends in Analytical Chemistry , 2023, 158, 116873, DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2022.116873 3. Petra van der Merwe and Patricia Forbes, Comparison of three sorbents for thin film solid phase microextraction of haloacetic acids from water, Analytical Methods , 2024, 16 (30), 5154-5265, DOI: 10.1039/d4ay00634h
© The Author(s), 2025
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