The use of chlorinated water in swimming pools produces elevated chloroform levels in the water and air of the pools which can cause chloroform body burden of swimming individuals. Present study confirmed the chloroform body burdens from a 40-min swimming and evaluated the decay of chloroform breath concentration after the cessation of a 60-min swimming. Air and water concentrations were measured in the pools. The water and air chloroform concentrations ranged from 18.1 to 25.3 ㎍/ℓ and from 30.9 to 60.7 ㎍/㎥ for the confirmation study, respectively. The breath level after 40-min swimming was about 64 to 266 folds higher than the corresponding background breath. The breath concentration after the 40-min swimming ranged from 10.5 to 21.3 ㎍/㎥, while that prior to the corresponding swimming ranged from 0.07 to 0.19 ㎍/㎥. In addition, the post-exposure breath level varied with the subjects who swam in the pool on the same visiting day. Breath concentration increased gradually during 60-min swimming, then decreased rapidly within 5 minutes after the cessation of exposure, after that, decreased slowly, and finally approached to a background breath level at 1-2 hr after exposure.

Chloroform present in the swimming water disinfected with sodium hypochlorite is released to the air of swimming pools. The air chloroform concentrations were measured in two swimming pools A and B which applied both sodium hypochlorite and ozone. Their mean concentrations are 28.0 ㎎/㎥ and 33.6 ㎍/㎥ in the swimming pools A and B, respectively. On the other hand, the mean water chloroform concentrations in the swimming pools A and B were 23.9 ㎍/ℓ and 19.5 ㎍/ℓ, respectively. The air chloroform concentrations were lower in the swimming pools A and B than those reported by previous studies abroad employed the swimming pools which applied sodium hypochlorte only for water disinfection. The water chloroform concentrations were also lower in this study than in the previous studies. The relationship between the air and water chloroform concentrations measured in this study was significant with p=0.002 and R^2=O.42. At similar time to the indoor air sampling, outdoor air samples were collected at two sites near each of the swimming pools A and B. The mean outdoor air chloroform concentrations near the swimming pools A and B were 0.41 ㎍/㎥ and 0.16 ㎍/㎥, respectively. The outdoor air chloroform concentrations measured in this study were equal to or lower than those reported by previous studies abroad. The chloroform dose inhaled for a typical one-hour swim was estimated to be 25.9 ㎍ per person, corresponding to a specific 0.37 ㎍/㎏ body weight. for a reference 70 ㎏ male adult, while the inh lation dose of chloroform from the outdoor air was estimated to be 5.6 ㎍ per person per day, corresponding to a specific 0.08 ㎍/㎏/day for the same reference male adult.

Chlorinated water in swimming pools contains chloroform at elevated levels compared to chlorinated drinking water. Chloroform levels in four indoor swimming pools(swimming pools A, B and C in a city of Korea and swimming pool D in a city of New Jersey in the United States) were examined. The chloroform levels in the water of swimming pool C (city-managed) were shown to be significantly(p=0.0001) different from those of private swimming pools A and B: the mean chloroform levels in the pools A, B, and C are 22.8, 17.8, and 31.1 ㎍/ℓ respectively. Furthermore, all of these chloroform levels are significantly(p=0.0001) different from those of New Jersey: chloroform concentration of the Korean pools ranged from 10.9 ㎍/ℓ to 47.9 ㎍/ℓ with a mean of 23.2 ㎍/ℓ, while it ranged from 27 ㎍/ℓ to 96 ㎍/ℓ with a mean of 64.4 ㎍/ℓ in the New Jersey pool. The disinfection processes would cause part of this difference since the swimming pools in Korea applied both chlorination and ozonation method, while the swimming pool in New Jersey used chlorination method only. It was implied that swimming parameters inconsistently vary, resulting in fluctuation of and no constant accumulation of chloroform in the water with the change of time for the day. A regression analysis showed no relationships between sampling time and chloroform concentrations for the sampling day in the swimming pools of Korea. A F-test indicated no significant difference of chloroform concentrations in the morning and afternoon samples collected in the swimming pools. Ingestion dose was estimated to be 0.58 ㎍ from an hour swimming in a city of Korea, taking into accounting an average of 23.2 ㎍/ℓ in swimming pools in the city. In extreme situation, the ingestion dose was estimated to he 12.0 ㎍ from an hour swimming in a city of Korea.

To perform a long-term ambient sampling study at a residential site, an air sampler was constructed to collect 24-hour integrated air samples suitable for the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis. It includes an esthetically acceptance due to proximity to homes, as well as providing the required sampling specifications. The VOCs sampler accomodates four 5/8 stainless steel(SS) traps packed with adsorbent(Tenax) and is capable of four flow rates in the range of 5 to 50 cc/min. Sintered metal filters(10 micrometer) were directly connected to the inlet of the trap adapters. Additional specifications include: 1) constructed of organically inert materials. 2) weatherproof, 3) battery operated, 4) collecting of VOCs at a breathing zone level, , and 5) quiet operation with micro diaphragm pumps wrapped by the sponge. The pump/battery system was separated from the sampling shelter. Sound levels measured for this system were below permissible sound levels (NJDEP) at a residential site. The sampler has been successfully operated at both ground level in a residential area and on the roof of a one story elementary school.