Occurrence of disinfection by-products in low DOC surface waters in Turkey

A total of 29 surface waters from different regions of Turkey were sampled once a month during 2004. Filtered raw water samples were characterized, chlorinated, and the concentrations of disinfection by-products (DBPs) were measured. All waters were low in DOC ranging from 0.91 to 4.42 mg/L. The range of annual average trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) concentrations in all waters was 21–189 and 18–149 µg/L, respectively. Total mass contributions of halides in THMs and HAAs to absorbable organic halides (AOX) ranged between 10 and 56% in all waters on an annual average basis, indicating that significant amounts of other DBPs are being formed in the majority of the tested waters. A strong linear correlation was obtained between the concentrations of THMs and HAAs. Rather poor correlations were found for THMs–AOX and HAAs–AOX levels. For both THMs and HAAs, chlorinated species dominated over brominated ones since the majority of water sources had very low bromide levels. While chloroform and trichloroacetic acid were the major THM and HAA compounds, respectively; the extent of formation and speciation of DBPs varied greatly by season and water source. No consistent general trends were observed in terms of seasonal variations in DBP levels, suggesting that the characteristics of NOM moieties and their chlorine reactivity vary by season in almost all waters tested.