Modeling Bromide River Transport and Bromide Impacts on Disinfection Byproducts: Fid-Bau Portal

Modeling Bromide River Transport and Bromide Impacts on Disinfection Byproducts

Cornwell, David A. / Sidhu, Baljit K. / Brown, Richard / McTigue, Nancy E.

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formed during potable water treatment can be affected by bromide (Br)‐containing discharges into receiving streams from coal‐fired power plants as well as other sources that increase the bromide content of the source water. This research focused on two aspects related to bromide increases in receiving streams. First, a bromide river transport model was adapted to track bromide concentrations in the river following a point discharge. In this work, the point discharges modeled were coal‐fired power plants. The model tracked the bromide concentrations at river segments after the point of discharge daily and, therefore, at water intakes as a function of time. In this article, the application of the model is illustrated for two rivers: the Ohio River along the Indiana and Kentucky borders and the Dan River in Virginia and North Carolina. Second, models to predict DBP formation due to increased bromide in source waters were developed. The source waters used in the DBP models were obtained from 13 states across the United States. Good model fits were found for predicting trihalomethane as bromide varies, as well as for predicting the unregulated sum of four haloacetic acids (HAA4). A method was also developed to predict the sum of nine HAAs (HAA9) based on measured sum of five HAAs (HAA5; the currently regulated HAAs) and modeled HAA4. The DBP formation models developed using the specific criteria evaluated in this research would have applications beyond only bromide discharges from coal‐fired power plants and would apply to any cause of a bromide increase in the source water.