Chlorinated Cyanurates in Drinking Water: Measurement Bias, Stability, and Disinfectant Byproduct Formation.

Two chlorinated cyanurates, commonly referred to as dichlor (anhydrous sodium dichloroisocyanurate or sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate) and trichlor (trichloroisocyanuric acid) may be approved for use in United States drinking water systems as chlorine sources. One complication with dichlor or trichlor's application in drinking water is that the actual free chlorine concentration in these systems cannot be quantified accurately by currently approved methods. Based on known water chemistry, two hypothesized advantages of dichlor or trichlor use are potential increased residual chlorine stability and decreased regulated disinfectant byproduct (DBP) formation. To inform these practical considerations, the current research investigated measurement bias in N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (colorimetric and portable parallel analyzer), indophenol, amperometric titration, and amperometric electrode free chlorine methods. In addition, hold studies using a surface water and dosed with either free chlorine only, dichlor, or trichlor provided the first side-by-side comparisons of disinfectant residual stability and regulated DBP formation.