Water Science & Technology: Water Supply Vol 6 No 6 pp 131–136 © IWA Publishing 2006 doi:10.2166/ws.2006.960

A review on bromate occurrence and removal strategies in water supply

L. Xie^* and C. Shang^**

The need of disinfecting potable water to eliminate potential health risks associated with waterborne pathogens, however inevitably resulting in leaving elevated toxicity in water by forming disinfection by-products (DBPs) is being considered as one of the primary threats to human well-being. Bromate is a carcinogenic DBP mainly formed during ozonation of bromide-containing water. The current maximum contaminant level (MCL) of bromate in the US national primary drinking water standard is set at 10 mg/L. With continuous improvements in analytical instrumentation and removal technologies, a lower MCL for bromate is expected in the future. Current researches on bromate control strategies involve minimizing bromate formation (like ammonia addition) or removing bromate after formation (like carbon adsorption), however have their own limitations. Seeking for alternative bromate control strategies that can be used alone (or in combine with others) is of great value and in urgent need when water quality standards are getting more stringent. This paper reviews the occurrence of bromate in water supply and evaluates the effectiveness of bromate removal technologies applied, to advance our understanding of bromate fate and degradation in water supply system for future study.

Keywords: Bromate; occurrence; removal strategies

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