Warm weather and excess nutrients from agricultural runoff trigger harmful algal blooms, which can affect drinking water safety due to the presence of algal toxins and the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) during drinking water treatment. In this study, 66 priority, unregulated and regulated DBPs were quantified in chlorinated controlled laboratory reactions of harmful algae Microseira wollei (formerly known as Lyngbya wollei) and Phormidium using gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS). Live algae samples collected from algae-impacted lakes in South Carolina were chlorinated in ultrapure water and real source waters containing NOM. DBPs were also measured in finished water from a drinking water plant impacted by a Microseira bloom. Results show that the presence of Microseira and Phormidium more than doubles total concentrations of DBPs formed by chlorination, with levels up to 587 μg/L formed in natural lake waters. Toxic N-DBPs also more than doubled in concentration, with levels up to 36.1, 3.6, and 37.9 μg/L for haloacetamides, halonitromethanes, and haloacetonitriles, respectively. In ultrapure water, DBPs also formed up to 314 μg/L, demonstrating the ability of algae to serve as direct precursors for these DBPs. When environmentally relevant levels of bromide and iodide were added to chlorination reactions, total DBPs increased 144, 51, and 24% for drinking water reservoir, Lake Marion and Lake Wateree Microseira respectively and 29% for Phormidium. Iodo-DBPs, bromochloroiodomethane, chloroiodoacetic acid, bromoiodoacetic acid, and diiodoacetic acid were observed in finished water from a drinking water plant impacted by Microseira, and bromochloroiodomethane and dibromoiodomethane were observed in chlorinated ultrapure water containing algae, bromide, and iodide. Notably, total calculated cytotoxicity tripled in Microseira–impacted waters and doubled for Phormidium-impacted waters. Calculated genotoxicity doubled for Microseira-impacted waters and more than doubled in Phormidium-impacted waters.

John Ferry

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