Effects of domestic handling of drinking water on halogenated acetaldehydes

Halogenated acetaldehydes (HALs) are widely considered to be the third largest group of identified disinfection by-products (DBPs) by weight in drinking water. In this study, we evaluated various scenarios for the domestic handling of drinking water and their effects on HALs. Two drinking water systems (DS1 and DS2) were selected for this case study. First, tap water samples that were collected in DS1 at different time and from different locations were subjected to three domestic handling scenarios: boiling, domestic filtration using a point-of-use device with a new filter followed by refrigeration, and refrigeration in a covered glass pitcher. In the last two scenarios, the maximum storage (refrigeration) time was 24 h. Second, two water samples each from DS1 and DS2 were collected to investigate the effects that heating water to different temperatures has on HALs. According to the results, boiling the water effectively removed most HALs except dichloroacetaldehyde (DCAL), which increased. In contrast to the variable behaviors of HALs after boiling, all HALs were consistently and significantly reduced by domestic filtration. However, the overall removal efficiency of HALs from filtration (65%) was considerably lower than that from boiling (85%). Finally, refrigeration had no significant impact on the overall concentration of total HALs. However, chloral hydrate levels increased in unfiltered water after refrigeration, likely due to the reaction of chlorine residuals and precursors present in water. Therefore, boiling and domestic filtering of tap water may be recommended for the removal of HALs prior to consuming tap water.