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Triclosan (TCS; 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol), a common antimicrobial agent, may react with residual chlorine in tap water during transport to wastewater treatment plants or during chlorine disinfection of wastewater, generating chlorinated TCS derivatives (CTDs): 4,5-dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (4-Cl-TCS), 5,6-dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (6-Cl-TCS), and 4,5,6-trichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (4,6-Cl-TCS). The photochemistry of CTDs was investigated due to the potential formation of polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD) photoproducts. Photolysis rates were highly dependent upon CTD speciation, because the phenolate species degraded 44 to 586 times faster than the phenol forms. Photolysis quantum yield values for TCS, 4-Cl- TCS, 6-Cl-TCS, and 4,6-Cl-TCS of 0.39, 0.07, 0.29, and 0.05, respectively, were determined for the phenolate species. Photolyses performed in Mississippi River and Lake Josephine (USA) waters gave similar quantum yields as buffered, pure water at the same pH, indicating that indirect photolysis processes involving photosensitization of dissolved organic matter are not competitive with direct photolysis. The photochemical conversion of the three CTDs to PCDDs under solar irradiation was confirmed in natural and buffered, pure water at yields of 0.5 to 2.5%. The CTD-derived PCDDs possess higher toxicities than 2,8-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, a previously identified photoproduct of TCS, due to their higher chlorine substitution in the lateral positions. The load of TCS- and CTD-derived PCDDs to United States surface waters is estimated to be between 46 and 92 g toxicity equivalent units per year. Other identified photoproducts of each CTD were 2,4-dichlorophenol and reductive dechlorination products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triclosan is a widely used antibacterial agent found in many personal hygiene products. Although it has previously been established that pure triclosan and free chlorine readily react, interactions between triclosan-containing consumer products and free chlorine have not previously been analyzed in great depth. Sixteen double-blinded solutions including both triclosan-containing (1.14–3.12 mg triclosan/g product) and triclosan-free products were contacted with free chlorine at pH 7. Products detected included (chlorophenoxy) phenols, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, and chloroform. The daughter product yields were found to be highly variable and were dependent on the antimicrobial product investigated, the free chlorine to triclosan ratio, and the temperature at which the study was conducted. Lowering the temperature from 40 to 30 °C resulted in a decreased average chloroform yield from 0.50 to 0.37 mol chloroform/tool triclosan consumed after 1 min of reaction time for an initial free chlorine concentration of 4.0 mg/L as Cl2. At 40 °C the average molar chloroform yields decreased to 0.29 and <0.1 when the initial free chlorine concentration was decreased to either 2.0 or 1.0 mg/L as Cl2, respectively. Field experiments, in which Atlanta, GA and Danville, VA tap waters were augmented with various soap products, exhibited results varying from the laboratory experiments in that different product yields were observed. These differences are attributed to the chlorine demand of constituents in the tap water. A simple exposure model suggests that exposure to chloroform can be significant under some conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater salinity is rising across many regions of the United States as well as globally, a phenomenon called the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). The FSS mobilizes organic carbon, nutrients, heavy metals, and other contaminants sequestered in soils and freshwater sediments, alters the structures and functions of soils, streams, and riparian ecosystems, threatens drinking water supplies, and undermines progress toward many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There is an urgent need to leverage the current understanding of salinization's causes and consequences─in partnership with engineers, social scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders─into locally tailored approaches for balancing our nation's salt budget. In this feature, we propose that the FSS can be understood as a common pool resource problem and explore Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework as an approach for identifying the conditions under which local actors may work collectively to manage the FSS in the absence of top-down regulatory controls. We adopt as a case study rising sodium concentrations in the Occoquan Reservoir, a critical water supply for up to one million residents in Northern Virginia (USA), to illustrate emerging impacts, underlying causes, possible solutions, and critical research needs.