Human Health: Other issues -- Chlorination by-products

Drinking water
Recreational water
Fish consumption
Lake by lake
Other issues
Resources and references

About the Great Lakes LaMPs study...
Glossary of terms
Site Map

Other issues in the Great Lakes

Other health issues
in the Great Lakes
Apart from the major Great Lakes health concerns of drinking water, recreational water, and fish consumption, there are a number of related issues that are interconnected to air and water quality, pollution and contamination, agriculture and industry, and wildlife.

Chlorination by-products
Processes commonly used by water treatment plants to disinfect water include the addition of disinfectants such as chlorine to inactivate or kill micro-organisms. Chlorine and other disinfectants can combine with naturally occurring organic matter in the raw water to produce chlorination disinfection by-products. Of the chlorination disinfection by-products, trihalomethanes (THMs) are present in the highest quantities.

Evidence from toxicologic and epidemiologic studies suggests a link between by-products of the chlorination process and increased risk of some cancers (e.g., bladder and colon) and adverse pregnancy outcomes (e.g., miscarriage, birth defects and low birth weight).

The amount of chlorination required and resulting levels of chlorination disinfection by-products are dependent upon the quality of the raw water, including microbiological quality and organic content. In the U.S., the EPA is developing standards to address the issue of disinfectants and disinfection by-products.

Human Health and the Great Lakes design and maintenance provided by
the Great Lakes Commission

Photos: Great Lakes National Program Office of the U.S. EPA
All PDFs are viewable with Adobe Acrobat Reader

Site Map | Send us your comments!