Minimizing Drinking Water Contaminants - Natural, Anthropogenic & By-products of Treatment

我的许多研究的最终目标是促进向所有人提供安全饮用水，特别是在尽量减少对人类健康构成潜在威胁的化学污染物方面。即使在痕量水平上，饮用水中的几种污染物也已知或怀疑会对人类健康造成影响。例如，亚硝胺在ng/L(万亿分之一)的浓度下可以产生致癌作用，可以存在于原水中，也可以作为消毒副产品形成。某些药品也可以进入我们的饮用水处理厂的进水口，通常是上游废水排放的结果(特别是在高度城市化的地区)。它们不容易被传统的处理程序去除，虽然它们的直接影响被认为是最小的，但其中一些可以在处理过程中转化为上述亚硝胺。此外，一些微量污染物，如被称为“诱变剂X”的化合物，虽然在20多年前被发现是氯化副产品，但目前正在重新检查其潜在的健康影响和可治疗性。 拟议的研究计划的主要目标是发现和报告在使用传统和/或创新的处理工艺时，提高水中微量污染物的去除和/或将水消毒或氧化处理产生的副产品降至最低的因素。次要目标包括考虑处理过程的效率，例如，可以为北美或发展中国家的偏远地区制定太阳能处理方案。 这项研究的科学方法是表征和量化主要由紫外线和太阳辐射以及高级氧化造成的污染物破坏和副产品的形成，并与氯化和氯胺处理的结果进行比较。其中一些工作使用了在最近的合作项目中开发的新颖的、对太阳敏感的光催化材料。一些测试还采用了新获得的毒理学测试，这也是通过最近的合作实现的。 这项工作是独一无二的，意义重大，因为它涉及：(I)检查新出现的对人类健康有潜在影响的污染物，(Ii)调查传统和创新的处理工艺(例如高级氧化、光催化)，以此作为消除这些污染物的手段；(Iii)终端用户的直接参与，使加拿大市政当局、顾问、监管人员和研究人员能够比其他方式更直接地应用所获得的信息。随着许多副产品受监管水平的大幅降低，这项研究的结果在监管谈判和合规中也将是必不可少的。

The ULTIMATE GOAL of much of my research is to facilitate the provision of safe drinking water to all, particularly in regards to minimizing chemical contaminants that are of potential human health concern. Even at trace levels, several contaminants in drinking water have known or suspected human health effects. Nitrosamines, for example, can exert carcinogenic effects at ng/L (parts-per-trillion) concentrations and can be present either in the raw water or are formed as by-products of disinfection. Certain pharmaceuticals can also find their way into our drinking water treatment plant intakes, usually as a result of upstream wastewater discharges (especially in heavily urbanized areas). They are not readily removed by conventional treatment processes, and while their direct effects are thought to be minimal some of them can be transformed during treatment into the nitrosamines mentioned above. In addition, some trace contaminants such as the compound known as ‘mutagen X’, although discovered as a chlorination by-product more than 20 years ago, is currently being re-examined for its potential health impacts and treatability. The proposed research program’s MAIN OBJECTIVE is to discover and report on factors which improve the removal of trace contaminants from water and/or minimize by-products formed from the disinfection or oxidative treatment of water when using conventional and/or innovative treatment processes. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES include considerations of treatment process efficiencies such that, for example, protocols for solar treatment may be developed for use in remote locations in North America or in developing nations. The SCIENTIFIC APPROACH of the research is to characterize and quantify contaminant destruction and by-product formation resulting primarily from UV-based and solar-based irradiation and advanced oxidation, to compare with the results from chlorination and chloramination. Some of this work employs novel, solar-sensitive photocatalytic materials that have been developed during recent collaborative projects. Some testing also employs newly available toxicological tests, also made possible through recent collaborations. This work is UNIQUE AND SIGNIFICANT in that it involves: (i) the examination of emerging contaminants of potential human health concern, (ii) the investigation of conventional and innovative treatment processes (e.g. advanced oxidation, photocatalysis) as a means to remove them (iii) significant direct participation of end users, allowing the information obtained to be more directly applied by Canadian municipalities, consultants, regulatory personnel and researchers than might otherwise be possible. With substantial reductions being contemplated for regulated levels of many by-products, results of this research will also be essential in regulatory negotiation and compliance.