Variability has been examined in the speciation and concentration of disinfection byproducts
(DBPs) at two drinking water treatment plants in the United States. The two
plants treat surface waters with sufficiently different bromide concentrations to impact
DBP speciation. Although both plants utilize chloramination as the terminal disinfectant,
there is a significant difference between the brominated DBP distributions at the two
sites. Comparative analysis has been conducted to evaluate this variability in
concentration and speciation of halogenated DBPs at the two sites, specifically for total
trihalomethanes (THM4) and total haloacetic acids (HAA9).
The differing DBP speciation is not currently accounted for through the quarterly DBP
monitoring program mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Although it is suspected that the health
risks associated with individual DBP species vary, the current regulatory approach does
not account for the speciation within each byproduct group. The results presented in this
paper explore the individual constituent concentrations at two utilities and show how they
vary in relation to the byproduct group summations, THM4 and HAA9. Includes 13 references, figures.