Occurrence and Removal of Chloro-s-Triazines in Water Treatment Plants

Abstract

Atrazine, simazine, and propazine and their major chlorinated degradates (deethylatrazine, deisopropylatrazine, and didealkylatrazine) are considered as a group to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On this basis, regulatory action levels are currently under consideration for the total chloro-s-triazine (TCT) levels in drinking waters. To assess the concentrations of each of these species in drinking water and their treatability in conventional water treatment, a comprehensive, full-scale studywas conducted that included frequent monitoring at 33 and 47 water utilities during 2003 and 2004, respectively. Approximately 900 paired raw and treated water samples were analyzed using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method with preconcentration using a mixed-mode, solid-phase extraction that allowed quantitation of each species including didealkylatrazine. The results showed that atrazine concentrations were generally well within the 3 microg/L maximum contaminant level (MCL) and that simazine and propazine concentrations were generally negligible. Ninety-fifth-percentile values for the ratio of TCT/atrazine were 4.8 and 4.7, respectively. Effectiveness of conventional treatment technologies, including carbon, was observed to vary significantly. Concerns that didealkyatrazine concentrations may be high and significantly elevate the TCT appear to be unfounded. In general, the results suggest that potential treatment requirements for TCT are not likely to be any more difficult for utilities to meet than the current requirements for atrazine.

Determination of Atrazine and Simazine in Environmental Water Samples by Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction with High Performance Liquid Chromatography

“…Recently, they have been considered as a group to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 3 The European Union Drinking Water Directive sets official regulations on the maximum admissible concentrations in drinking water as 0.1 mg L -1 for an individual pesticide and 0.5 mg L -1 for total pesticides, 4 whereas in surface water the alert and alarm threshold values are typically 1 and 3 mg L -1 . 5 Hence, the development of sensitive analytical methods is very crucial for screening the presence and amounts of pesticides and preventing toxicological risks.…”

Opportunities and challenges in the use of coal fly ash for soil improvements – A review

“…Certain industrial waste products may have potential as inexpensive metal and pesticides sorbents (Bailey et al, 1999;Gupta et al, 2002;Babel and Kurniawan, 2003;Lu et al, 2005;Karatas, 2012;. Activated charcoal is the most commonly used sorbent for removing pesticide residue from contaminated waters (Jiang et al, 2006;Lopez-Ramon et al, 2007). However, because of the high cost of activated charcoal, its use at large scale is very limited.…”

Improvement of Spectrophotometric Method for the Determination of Atrazine in Contaminated Water by Inducing of Mannich Reaction

“…Their intense use and presence in the environment have created a health threat to human beings. Recently, they have been considered to be endocrine disrupting chemicals (Jiang et al, 2006). Water Directive (EEC 80/778) on the maximum admissible concentrations in drinking water as 0.1 mg.L -1 for an individual herbicide and 0.5 mg L -1 for total pesticides (EEC Drinking Water Guidelines, 1980a) whereas in surface water the alert and alarm threshold values are typically 1 and 3 mg.L -1 (EEC Drinking Water Guidelines, 1980b).…”