Potentially Hazardous Trihalomethanes (THMs) Levels in Chlorinated Swimming Pools’ Water in Fars Province, Iran

Background: trihalomethanes are toxic and dangeroussubstances that are formed in the presence of organic materialswhen water is chlorinated for disinfection. the iranian nationalstandard, world health organization, european union, u.s.environmental protection agency and international agencyfor research in cancer standards have established a maximumcontaminant level for trihalomethanes for the quality ofconsumable water. the aim of this study was to determine if thetrihalomethanes level in the water of fars province swimmingpools comply with these recommendations.methods: the laboratory study design was conducted byutilizing spectrophotometer hack dr5000 vis-uv equipmentfor evaluating trihalomethanes concentrations, digital photometerpalin-test for measuring chlorine and ph to process differentsamples collected from 43 indoor and outdoor swimming poolsin fars province, iran.the dependent variable was trihalomethanes and chlorinecompounds were independent variables. precise laboratoryexperimental methods and appropriate statistical analysis wereconducted using spss.results: mean concentration of trihalomethanes was found tobe 242.1?g/l, ranging from 0 to 990?g/l for 43 public swimmingpools in fars province. association of trihalomethanes andchlorine components with analysis of variance (anova) modelwas highly significant (p < 0.0001).conclusion: study results showed that there were strongassociations between chlorine compounds and trihalomethanesconcentrations. the mean trihalomethanes was 1.2-times(241.2?g/l vs. 200.0?g/l) higher than the national and 3-folds(241.2?g/l vs. 80.0?g/l) higher than the worldwide standards.therefore, based upon standard recommendations, thisconclusion could pose a hazard to public health.