Contaminant Minimization for Safer Drinking Water

最大限度地减少污染物以获得更安全的饮用水

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06173
• 负责人: Andrews, Susan
• 金额: $ 3.79万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718256
• 关键词: Contaminant; Minimization; Safer; Drinking; Water

The ultimate objective of the proposed research program is to improve the provision of safe drinking water to all, particularly in regards to minimizing chemical contaminants that are of potential human health concern. Generally, the HQP involved in this research will discover and report on factors which improve the removal of trace contaminants from water and/or minimize byproducts formed from the disinfection or oxidative treatment of water when using conventional and/or innovative treatment processes. Even at trace levels, several contaminants in drinking water have known or suspected adverse 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 byproducts of disinfection. Certain pharmaceuticals can also find their way into our drinking water treatment plant intakes, usually as a result of upstream wastewater discharges and can be a significant fraction of a drinking water treatment plant's influent water, 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, the list of emerging contaminants' like nitrosamines and pharmaceuticals continues to grow as analytical methods and toxicological testing protocols evolve. Some trace contaminants are even re-emerging'. For example, the compound known as mutagen X', discovered as a chlorination byproduct more than 20 years ago, is currently being re-examined for its potential health impacts and treatability. Of particular interest has been the recent discovery of microscopic plastic particles (micron-sized or nanometer-sized plastics) that have been shown to be incorporated into organs and tissues and either cause health effects directly or be vectors for the transmission of some of the abovenamed contaminants into tissues where they may have effects. Materials adsorbed to them may also react with disinfectants during treatment and form byproducts such as those named above. Through the carefully planned and executed research that is proposed, it is hoped that means to reduce the occurrence and impact of these and other chemical contaminants in our drinking water may be discovered and employed.

拟议研究计划的最终目标是改善向所有人提供安全饮用水的情况，特别是在尽量减少可能对人类健康造成影响的化学污染物方面。 一般来说，参与本研究的HQP将发现并报告改善水中痕量污染物去除和/或最大限度地减少使用传统和/或创新处理工艺时消毒或氧化处理水形成的副产品的因素。即使在痕量水平，饮用水中的几种污染物也已知或怀疑对人类健康产生不利影响。例如，亚硝胺在ng/L（万亿分之一）浓度下可产生致癌作用，并且可存在于原水中或作为消毒副产物形成。某些药物也可能进入我们的饮用水处理厂的进水口，通常是由于上游废水排放，并且可能是饮用水处理厂进水的重要组成部分，特别是在高度城市化的地区。它们不容易通过常规处理过程去除，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，随着分析方法和毒理学测试方案的发展，亚硝胺和药物等新兴污染物的清单继续增长。一些微量污染物甚至重新出现。例如，20多年前作为氯化副产品发现的称为诱变剂X '的化合物，目前正在重新审查其潜在的健康影响和可治疗性。 特别令人感兴趣的是最近发现的微观塑料颗粒（微米尺寸或纳米尺寸的塑料），这些塑料颗粒已被证明被掺入器官和组织中，并且直接引起健康影响，或者是将上述污染物中的一些传播到它们可能具有影响的组织中的载体。吸附到它们上的物质也可能在处理过程中与消毒剂反应，形成如上所述的副产物。 通过精心计划和执行的研究，我们希望可以发现和采用减少饮用水中这些和其他化学污染物的发生和影响的方法。