Measurement of Chloroform in Swimming Pools' Waters and Swimmers’ Blood

Background: A new microextraction method named dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) for determination of chloroform in pool water and blood of swimmers after swimming is described. Methods: This method was performed based on coupling dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Methanol and trichloroethylenes were used as the disperser solvent and the extraction solvents, respectively. The volumes of these solvents were optimized for pool water by central composite design. The study involved three indoor swimming pools and nine swimmers. Results: Chloroform concentration of pool water was 118-135 µg L-1 and of blood ranged from 1.26 to 1.66 µg L-1. Conclusion: Indoor swimming pools are closed environments presenting detectable levels of trihalomethanes (THMs). Chloroform (CHCl3) is the most represented THMs. Therefore, the presence of CHCl3 may be considered representative of the THMs. The new method DLLME was applied for determination of CHCl3 in pool water and blood of swimmers after swimming inside the indoor swimming pool. The method was optimized by experimental design. Chloroform concentrations in the specified pool waters were 135, 124, 118 µg L-1.