The Spatial Distribution of Nitrite Concentrations in a Large Drinking Water Distribution System in Finland

Nitrite in drinking water is a potential health hazard and monitoring its concentrations in distributed water is of paramount importance. When monochloramine is used in secondary disinfection in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs), nitrite is often formed by nitrification in the biofilm on the inner surface of distribution pipes. This article attempts to identify areas with a risk of increased nitrite concentrations as well as the main reasons leading to nitrite occurrence in a large urban DWDS in Finland using spatial inspection of obligatory monitoring data. Nitrification was found to occur throughout the study area, though nitrite was not increased everywhere. Instead, nitrite was increased close to the water treatment plants (WTPs) and was connected to fresh drinking water than stagnant drinking water. Temperature effects on nitrite concentrations were surprisingly insignificant, even though it is well known that nitrification reactions are affected by temperature. The temperature dependence of ammonium and total residual chlorine was more significant than the dependence of nitrite. The findings of this study emphasize the need to monitor nitrite concentrations close to WTPs.

Total organic halogen(TOX) in human urine: A halogen-specific method for human exposure studies

Disinfection by-products（DBPs） are a complex mixture of compounds unintentionally formed as a result of disinfection processes used to treat drinking water. Effects of long-term exposure to DBPs are mostly unknown and were the subject of recent epidemiological studies. However,most bioanalytical methods focus on a select few DBPs. In this study, a new comprehensive bioanalytical method has been developed that can quantify mixtures of organic halogenated compounds, including DBPs, in human urine as total organic chlorine（TOCl）, total organic bromine（TOBr）, and total organic iodine（TOI）. The optimized method consists of urine dilution, adsorption to activated carbon, pyrolysis of activated carbon, absorption of gases in an aqueous solution, and halide analysis with ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Spike recoveries for TOCl, TOBr, and TOI measurements ranged between 78% and 99%. Average TOCl, TOBr, and TOI concentrations in five urine samples from volunteers who consumed tap water were 1850, 82, and 21.0 μg/L as X^-, respectively.Volunteers who consumed spring water（control） had TOCl, TOBr, and TOI average concentrations in urine of 1090, 88, and 10.3 μg/L as X^-, respectively. TOCl and TOI in the urine samples from tap water consumers were higher than the control. However, TOBr was slightly lower in tap water urine samples compared to mineral water urine samples, indicating other sources of environmental exposure other than drinking water. A larger sample population that consumes tap water from different cities and mineral water is needed to determine TOCl, TOBr, and TOI exposure from drinking water.

Halogen-specific total organic halogen analysis： Assessment by recovery of total bromine

Determination of halogen-specific total organic halogen（TOX） is vital for studies of disinfection of waters containing bromide, since total organic bromine（TOBr） is likely to be more problematic than total organic chlorine. Here, we present further halogen-specific TOX method optimisation and validation, focusing on measurement of TOBr. The optimised halogen-specific TOX method was validated based on the recovery of model compounds covering different classes of disinfection by-products（haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles,halophenols and halogenated benzenes） and the recovery of total bromine（mass balance of TOBr and bromide concentrations） during disinfection of waters containing dissolved organic matter and bromide. The validation of a halogen-specific TOX method based on the mass balance of total bromine has not previously been reported. Very good recoveries of organic halogen from all model compounds were obtained, indicating high or complete conversion of all organic halogen in the model compound solution through to halide in the absorber solution for ion chromatography analysis. The method was also successfully applied to monitor conversion of bromide to TOBr in a groundwater treatment plant. An excellent recovery（101%）of total bromine was observed from the raw water to the post-chlorination stage. Excellent recoveries of total bromine（92%–95%） were also obtained from chlorination of a synthetic water containing dissolved organic matter and bromide, demonstrating the validity of the halogen-specific TOX method for TOBr measurement. The halogen-specific TOX method is an important tool to monitor and better understand the formation of halogenated organic compounds, in particular brominated organic compounds, in drinking water systems.