TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS FORMED BY OZONATION OF AQUEOUS ORGANICS

Ozonation has recently been utilized in the water purification process for controlling trihalomethanes, oxidation of organic compounds with undesirable organoleptic properties and color removal, particularly in Europe. Although ozone is an effective oxidant, it is necessary from the viewpoint of public health to assess the genotoxic potentials of o zonation products from various contaminants in drinking water. This re view is undertaken to summarize the mutagenicity and toxicological dat a of concentrates of drinking water or humic solution after ozonation. The identified ozonation products are evaluated toxicologically. Form aldehyde, glyoxal and methylglyoxal which possess high genotoxic poten tial may be good indicators for controlling ozonation products.