The chlorination of water has led to a substantial reduction in waterborne disease outbreaks. There are, however, concerns regarding the safety of trihalomethanes (major by-products of chlorination). One of the limitations of much of the existing evidence is the lack of individual trihalomethane exposure estimates, and these estimates should include the concentration of trihalomethanes in bottled water. In Australia, water advertised as ‘spring’ or ‘mineral’ water should, by definition, remain untreated, and should not, therefore, contain any trihalomethanes. We tested this assumption by assessing the concentration of trihalomethanes (bromodichloromethane, bromoform, chloroform, dibromochloromethane, and total trihalomethanes) in the six brands of bottled spring water most commonly consumed by pregnant women in Australia (here labelled A–F). For each water brand, two bottles were purchased from five locations, and this procedure was replicated approximately 2 weeks later. Standard water analysis techniques were used to determine the concentrations of bromodichloromethane, bromoform, chloroform, dibromochloromethane, and total trihalomethanes in each bottle. All 10 samples of brands A and B were positive for trihalomethanes, as was one bottle of brand C. No trihalomethanes were detected in any of the samples of the remaining three brands (D–F). The highest recorded total trihalomethane concentration was 30 µg/L. The trihalomethane concentration in Australian bottled spring water cannot be assumed to be zero. Studies estimating trihalomethane exposures should, therefore, collect data on the brand of the bottled water consumed, and test these brands contemporaneously for their trihalomethane exposures, to strengthen the evidence regarding trihalomethane exposure and human health outcomes.

水的氯化作用大大减少了水传播疾病的爆发。但是，人们担心三卤甲烷（主要的氯化副产物）的安全性。现有证据的局限性之一是缺乏单独的三卤甲烷暴露量估算值，这些估算值应包括瓶装水中三卤甲烷的浓度。在澳大利亚，从定义上讲，标榜为“泉水”或“矿泉水”的水应保持未经处理的状态，因此不应包含任何三卤甲烷。我们通过评估澳大利亚孕妇最常饮用的六个品牌瓶装泉水中三溴甲烷（溴二氯甲烷，溴仿，氯仿，二溴氯甲烷和总三卤甲烷）的浓度来检验该假设。对于每个水品牌，从五个地点购买了两个瓶子，大约2周后重复了此过程。使用标准的水分析技术确定每个瓶中溴代二氯甲烷，溴仿，氯仿，二溴氯甲烷和总三卤甲烷的浓度。A和B品牌的所有10个样品中的三卤甲烷均为阳性，一瓶C品牌也为阳性。其余三个品牌（DF）的任何样品中均未检出三卤甲烷。最高记录的总三卤甲烷浓度为30 µg / L。澳大利亚瓶装泉水中的三卤甲烷浓度不能假定为零。因此，估算三卤甲烷暴露量的研究应收集消耗的瓶装水品牌的数据，