SafeDrink - Quality of drinking water

Last changed: 28 February 2024
Person pouring water from a bucket to metallic bottles. Photo.

SafeDrink was a Formas project focusing on hazardous chemicals in drinking water (2013-2018).

Summary of the project results (pdf).

Drinking water is our main food stuff with a consumption of 2-2.5 L per person and day. Over the past decade, many new hazardous chemicals were detected in drinking water. There is a need to identify presently unknown chemicals and to improve detection of known hazardous chemicals in drinking water.

SafeDrink includes monitoring of chemicals, effect monitoring, impact of water treatment processes, and social science aspects of the public´s sense-making of risks associated with tap water.

Passive samplers were used to pre-concentrate pollutants from source to tap (Uppsala & Stockholm). Sampling extracts were characterized in terms of chemical composition by advanced masspectrometry and toxicity by in vitro assays. Different treatment techniques were compared, and the impact of dissolved organic carbon was studied.

The project was devloped in collaboration with stakeholders, and the research will help stakeholders to improve monitoring strategies and to make well-founded decisions concerning investments in treatment technology for improved safety of drinking water, and for improved risk communication. 

Selection of publications

Lundqvist J et al. (2019). Innovative drinking water treatment techniques reduce the disinfection-induced oxidative stress and genotoxic activity. Water Res 155:182-192.

Dürig W et al. (2019). Development of a suspect screening prioritization tool for organic compounds
in water and biota, Chemosphere 222:904-912.

Gobelius L et al. (2019). Calibration and application of passive sampling for per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances in a drinking water treatment plant. J Hazard Mater 362:230–237.

Rosenmai AK et al. (2018). Effect-based assessment of recipient waters impacted by on-site, small
scale, and large scale waste water treatment facilities – combining passive sampling with in
vitro bioassays and chemical analysis. Sci Rep 21;8(1):17200.

Gobelius L et al. (2018). Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in Swedish groundwater and surface
water: Implications for Environmental Quality Standards and drinking water guidelines.
Environ Sci Technol 52:4340-4349.

Tröger R et al. (2018). Micropollutants in drinking water from source to tap - method development
and application of a multiresidue screening method. Sci Total Environ 627:1404–1432.

McCleaf P et al. (2017). Removal efficiency of multiple perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in drinking
water using granular activated carbon (GAC) and anion exchange (AE) column tests. Water
Res 120:77-87.

 

Facts:

Participants

SLU: Karin Wiberg, Agneta Oskarsson, Lutz Ahrens, Rikard Tröger and Stephan Köhler

Uppsala University: Björn Hellman

Mid University of Sweden: Anna Olofsson

National Food Agency: Heidi Pekar and Anders Glynn