letter to the editor
Disinfection byproducts in drinking water I
n Howard Weinberg’s recent A-page article on analyzing potable water for disinfection byproducts (DBPs) (1), he suggested that the field has relied too heavily on a few techniques, especially GC/MS, and that other analytical techniques are needed to quantitate the DBPs formed after halogen-based oxidants react with natural organic matter (NOM). I share this sentiment and hope that the potable water community embraces the full range of techniques offered by analytical chemists. However, I am unconvinced that it is necessary to identify and quantify each individual compound, which is normally the goal in analytical chemistry. Suppose we could identify 1000 or 10,000 individual compounds. Can we afford to regulate or even test for them? How much are we willing to pay for a glass of water? Given the wide distribution of compounds that can make up soluble NOM (with molecular masses of 100–30,000 u), many DBPs are probably present at concentrations
