Disinfection byproduct reactivity of aquatic humic substances derived from soils

This short communication compared the differences in disinfection byproduct (DBP) reactivity of organic carbon fractions extracted from four soils by either deionized water or a 0.1 N NaOH solution. Results indicated that the whole alkaline extracts had a higher DBP reactivity than the whole water extracts. However, the DBP reactivity of fulvic acid and acid soluble fraction showed the opposite. The slopes of the linear correlations between specific UVA254 and specific THM formation potential of the alkaline and water extracts are not significantly different (p>0.05) from each other, suggesting that the extraction with 0.1 N NaOH can be acceptable to predict of DBPs as long as UVA254 values for water extracted and alkali extracted samples are close.