Drinking water treatment and associated toxic byproducts: Concurrence and urgence

Reclaimed water is highly required for environmental sustainability and to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). Chemical processes are frequently associated with highly hazardous and toxic by-products, like nitro-samines, trihalomethanes, haloaldehydes, haloketones, and haloacetic acids. In this context, we aim to sum-marize the formation of various commonly produced disinfection by-products (DBPs) during wastewater treatment and their treatment approaches. Owing to DBPs formation, we discussed permissible limits, concen-trations in various water systems reported globally, and their consequences on humans. While most reviews focus on DBPs detection methods, this review discusses factors affecting DBPs formation and critically reviews various remediation approaches, such as adsorption, reverse osmosis, nano/micro-filtration, UV treatment, ozonation, and advanced oxidation process. However, research in the detection of hazardous DBPs and their removal is quite at an early and initial stage, and therefore, numerous advancements are required prior to scale-up at commercial level. DBPs abatement in wastewater treatment approach should be considered. This review provides the baseline for optimizing DBPs formation and advancements in the remediation process, efficiently reducing their production and providing safe, clean drinking water. Future studies should focus on a more efficient and rigorous understanding of DBPs properties and degradation of hazardous pollutants using low-cost techniques in wastewater treatment.

Automated summary

This article summarizes the formation of various disinfection by-products (DBPs) during wastewater treatment and their treatment methods, discusses permissible limits and concentrations of DBPs in water systems globally, and their consequences on humans. It also critically reviews various remediation approaches and highlights the need for further advancements in detection and removal of hazardous DBPs before commercial-scale implementation.