Due to the potential health concerns of emerging contaminants in water, the EPA of Taiwan launched a four-year project entitled “Health Risk assessment of emerging contaminants in water sources and treated drinking water” to assess the potential contaminants in drinking water and the potential health effect from the emerging contaminants. This study searched and collected information from Contaminant Candidate List 3 developed by US EPA, the regulated and unregulated contaminants from international societies like WHO, the literatures punlished in academic journals and the recommendations from the Expert Panelists, finally 37 potential candidate contaminants from the high-tech industries were evaluated and recommended to be included in the candidates list. In order to investigate the occurrences of emerging contaminants in drinking water, the raw water and finished water samples were taken from six water treatment plants, which were located near the Hsinchu and Central Taiwan Science Parks. Furthermore, the river and groundwater samples from Xiao-Li River, Fengshan River, and Keya River were also collected and analyzed. The results showed that the concentration of VOCs was insignificant in the water sources of the six water treatment plants. Several metals were also identified in the source water samples of the treatment plants but only appeared at trace concentrations. During the study, three Panelists Meetings were called and several related subjects were discussed. The panelists approved the nominations of the 37 potential contaminants from the high-tech industries and asked for further investigations for those contaminants. In addition, the third panelists meeting urged the Taiwan EPA to regulate the 5 HAAs and several VOCs in the drinking water.

Drinking water quality standards、emerging contaminants、contaminant candidates list、health risk assessment