Discoveries in water treatment have revealed a new breakdown product from chlorine-based treatments, potentially affecting one-third of Americans. Environmental engineer Daniel McCurry from the University of Southern California anticipates a significant impact from this finding. While chlorine effectively eliminates germs in water systems, it can also produce harmful by-products when reacting with other substances. To address this issue, some municipalities transitioned to using chloramines for water treatment. Julian Fairey, an environmental engineer at the University of Arkansas, notes that approximately 113 million people rely on chloramines for disinfection. Despite their lower rate of by-product formation compared to chlorine, chloramines still generate breakdown products that have posed challenges for identification over the years.
Date: 2024-11-21 14:00:00
Source: www.sciencenews.org