The water in and air above swimming pools often contain high levels of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) due to chemical reactions between chlorine- or bromine-based disinfectants and organic/inorganic matter in the source water and released from swimmers. Exposure to these DBPs, though inevitable, can pose health threats to humans. In this study, DBPs in tap water (S1), and water from a chlorinated indoor swimming pool before (S2) and after swimming (S3) were measured. The brominated species constituted the majority of DBPs formed in S1, S2, and S3. Trihalomethanes (THMs) in S3 was 6.9 (range 2.9-11.1) and 1.4 (range 0.52-2.9) times those in S1 and S2, respectively; and the haloacetic acids (HAAs) in S3 was 4.2 (range 2.5-7.5) and 1.2 (range 0.6-2.6) times those in S1 and S2, respectively. The mean THMs in air above the swimming pool before (S2-A) and after swimming (S3-A) were 72.2 and 93.0 μg/m(3), respectively, and their ranges were 36.3-105.8 and 44.1-133.6 μg/m(3), respectively. The average percentages of bromide incorporation (BI) into THMs in S1, S2, and S3 were 3.0, 9.3, and 10.6 %, respectively; and the BI into HAAs in S1, S2, and S3 were 6.6, 12.0, and 12.2 %, respectively. Several models were trained for predicting the BI into THMs and HAAs. The results indicate that additional information is required to develop predictive models for BI in swimming pools.
Keywords: Bromide incorporation; Chlorinated swimming pool; Constant organic loading; Continuous disinfection; Disinfection byproducts; Human exposure.