Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1999 Feb;107(2):103–110. doi: 10.1289/ehp.99107103

Exposure estimates to disinfection by-products of chlorinated drinking water.

C P Weisel 1, H Kim 1, P Haltmeier 1, J B Klotz 1
PMCID: PMC1566339  PMID: 9924004

Abstract

Exposure to disinfection by-products (DBPs) of drinking water is multiroute and occurs in households serviced by municipal water treatment facilities that disinfect the water as a necessary step to halt the spread of waterborne infectious diseases. Biomarkers of the two most abundant groups of DBPs of chlorination, exhaled breath levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) and urinary levels of two haloacetic acids, were compared to exposure estimates calculated from in-home tap water concentrations and responses to a questionnaire related to water usage. Background THM breath concentrations were uniformly low. Strong relationships were identified between the THM breath concentrations collected after a shower and both the THM water concentration and the THM exposure from a shower, after adjusting for the postshower delay time in collecting the breath sample. Urinary haloacetic acid excretion rates were not correlated to water concentrations. Urinary trichloroacetic acid excretion rates were correlated with ingestion exposure, and that correlation was stronger in a subset of individuals who consumed beverages primarily within their home where the concentration measurements were made. No correlation was observed between an average 48-hr exposure estimate and the urinary dichloroacetic acid excretion rate, presumably because of its short biological half-life. Valid biomarkers were identified for DBP exposures, but the time between the exposure and sample collection should be considered to account for different metabolic rates among the DBPs. Further, using water concentration as an exposure estimate can introduce misclassification of exposure for DBPs whose primary route is ingestion due to the great variability in the amount of water ingested across a population.

Full text

PDF
103

Images in this article

108Figure 1
on p.108
108Figure 2
on p.108
108Figure 3
on p.108
109Figure 4
on p.109
109Figure 5
on p.109
109Figure 6
on p.109

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ANDERSON P. C. Problems in a simple two-possibility counting study. Arch Dermatol. 1961 Jul;84:99–102. doi: 10.1001/archderm.1961.01580130105016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Abbas R., Fisher J. W. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for trichloroethylene and its metabolites, chloral hydrate, trichloroacetate, dichloroacetate, trichloroethanol, and trichloroethanol glucuronide in B6C3F1 mice. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1997 Nov;147(1):15–30. doi: 10.1006/taap.1997.8190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Austin E. W., Parrish J. M., Kinder D. H., Bull R. J. Lipid peroxidation and formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine from acute doses of halogenated acetic acids. Fundam Appl Toxicol. 1996 May;31(1):77–82. doi: 10.1006/faat.1996.0078. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bove F. J., Fulcomer M. C., Klotz J. B., Esmart J., Dufficy E. M., Savrin J. E. Public drinking water contamination and birth outcomes. Am J Epidemiol. 1995 May 1;141(9):850–862. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bull R. J. Carcinogenic and mutagenic properties of chemicals in drinking water. Sci Total Environ. 1985 Dec;47:385–413. doi: 10.1016/0048-9697(85)90344-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cantor K. P. Epidemiological evidence of carcinogenicity of chlorinated organics in drinking water. Environ Health Perspect. 1982 Dec;46:187–195. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8246187. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cantor K. P., Hoover R., Hartge P., Mason T. J., Silverman D. T., Altman R., Austin D. F., Child M. A., Key C. R., Marrett L. D. Bladder cancer, drinking water source, and tap water consumption: a case-control study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1987 Dec;79(6):1269–1279. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cantor K. P., Lynch C. F., Hildesheim M. E., Dosemeci M., Lubin J., Alavanja M., Craun G. Drinking water source and chlorination byproducts. I. Risk of bladder cancer. Epidemiology. 1998 Jan;9(1):21–28. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hildesheim M. E., Cantor K. P., Lynch C. F., Dosemeci M., Lubin J., Alavanja M., Craun G. Drinking water source and chlorination byproducts. II. Risk of colon and rectal cancers. Epidemiology. 1998 Jan;9(1):29–35. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jackson S. Creatinine in urine as an index of urinary excretion rate. Health Phys. 1966 Jun;12(6):843–850. doi: 10.1097/00004032-196606000-00014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. James M. O., Cornett R., Yan Z., Henderson G. N., Stacpoole P. W. Glutathione-dependent conversion to glyoxylate, a major pathway of dichloroacetate biotransformation in hepatic cytosol from humans and rats, is reduced in dichloroacetate-treated rats. Drug Metab Dispos. 1997 Nov;25(11):1223–1227. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kashino S. S., Singer-Vermes L. M., Calich V. L., Burger E. Alterations in the pathogenicity of one Paracoccidioides brasiliensis isolate do not correlative with its in vitro growth. Mycopathologia. 1990 Sep;111(3):173–180. doi: 10.1007/BF02282801. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kramer M. D., Lynch C. F., Isacson P., Hanson J. W. The association of waterborne chloroform with intrauterine growth retardation. Epidemiology. 1992 Sep;3(5):407–413. doi: 10.1097/00001648-199209000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McGeehin M. A., Reif J. S., Becher J. C., Mangione E. J. Case-control study of bladder cancer and water disinfection methods in Colorado. Am J Epidemiol. 1993 Oct 1;138(7):492–501. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116883. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Morris R. D., Audet A. M., Angelillo I. F., Chalmers T. C., Mosteller F. Chlorination, chlorination by-products, and cancer: a meta-analysis. Am J Public Health. 1992 Jul;82(7):955–963. doi: 10.2105/ajph.82.7.955. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Parrish J. M., Austin E. W., Stevens D. K., Kinder D. H., Bull R. J. Haloacetate-induced oxidative damage to DNA in the liver of male B6C3F1 mice. Toxicology. 1996 Jun 17;110(1-3):103–111. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(96)03342-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Raymer J. H., Thomas K. W., Cooper S. D., Whitaker D. A., Pellizzari E. D. A device for sampling of human alveolar breath for the measurement of expired volatile organic compounds. J Anal Toxicol. 1990 Nov-Dec;14(6):337–344. doi: 10.1093/jat/14.6.337. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reif J. S., Hatch M. C., Bracken M., Holmes L. B., Schwetz B. A., Singer P. C. Reproductive and developmental effects of disinfection by-products in drinking water. Environ Health Perspect. 1996 Oct;104(10):1056–1061. doi: 10.1289/ehp.961041056. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Swan S. H., Waller K., Hopkins B., Windham G., Fenster L., Schaefer C., Neutra R. R. A prospective study of spontaneous abortion: relation to amount and source of drinking water consumed in early pregnancy. Epidemiology. 1998 Mar;9(2):126–133. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Vena J. E., Graham S., Freudenheim J., Marshall J., Zielezny M., Swanson M., Sufrin G. Drinking water, fluid intake, and bladder cancer in western New York. Arch Environ Health. 1993 May-Jun;48(3):191–198. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1993.9940820. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wallace L. A., Pellizzari E. D., Hartwell T. D., Sparacino C., Whitmore R., Sheldon L., Zelon H., Perritt R. The TEAM (Total Exposure Assessment Methodology) Study: personal exposures to toxic substances in air, drinking water, and breath of 400 residents of New Jersey, North Carolina, and North Dakota. Environ Res. 1987 Aug;43(2):290–307. doi: 10.1016/s0013-9351(87)80030-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wallace L. A., Pellizzari E., Hartwell T., Rosenzweig M., Erickson M., Sparacino C., Zelon H. Personal exposure to volatile organic compounds. I. Direct measurements in breathing-zone air, drinking water, food, and exhaled breath. Environ Res. 1984 Oct;35(1):293–319. doi: 10.1016/0013-9351(84)90137-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Waller K., Swan S. H., DeLorenze G., Hopkins B. Trihalomethanes in drinking water and spontaneous abortion. Epidemiology. 1998 Mar;9(2):134–140. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Weisel C. P., Jo W. K. Ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposures to chloroform and trichloroethene from tap water. Environ Health Perspect. 1996 Jan;104(1):48–51. doi: 10.1289/ehp.9610448. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Ziglio G. Human exposure to environmental trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene: preliminary data on population groups of Milan, Italy. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 1981 Jan;26(1):131–136. doi: 10.1007/BF01622066. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of American Chemical Society

RESOURCES