Guidance on Disinfection By-Products
By using (predominantly halogenated biocidal products Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) can be formed. DBPs could cause a risk for human health and environment. In January 2017 European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) made the final guidance on Disinfection By-Products available, being in force from January 2019. The guidance focuses on three product types: disinfection of swimming-pool water and waste water (PT2), cool water (PT11) and at the production of paper (PT12). This means that the applicants have to submit risk assessments for these product types.
The guidance on Disinfection By-Products provides a strategy for the human health and environmental risk assessment of DBPs to the applicants and the competent authorities. The human health risk assessment is based on a set of known marker DBPs, using consensus health-based limit values and DBP concentrations. The guidance focuses on PT2 in swimming-pool water for which human exposure was considered most relevant while discussing the exposures to DBPs. The environmental risk assessment is predominantly focused on the determination of the risks of DBPs directly or indirectly present in surface water. That focus is relevant for applications for product types PT2, PT11 and PT12.
Ctgb updated the Evaluation Manual to reflect the impact of this guidance.