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.

There has been an increased awareness of the need to confirm the chloroform exposure associated with using chlorinated household water. Ten of a 30-minute tub bath were normally taken by two volunteers in a bathroom of an apartment. Chloroform concentrations were measured in bathing water and bathroom air, and exhaled breath of the subjects prior to and after bathing. Bathing using chlorinated tap water resulted in a chloroform exposure and caused a body burden. Based on the difference of chloroform concentrations between breath samples collected prior to and after bathing, the chloroform body burden from a 30-minute bath was estimated to be about 8 to 26 folds higher than that prior to the bath. The mean water and bathroom air chloroform concentrations measured to evaluate the body burden were 9.4 ㎍/ℓ and 14.9 ㎍/㎥, respectively. The chloroform level of the bathroom air was 34 to 130 times higher than that of the living-room air. The relationship between the bathroom air and the corresponding breath chloroform concentrations were significant with p=0.03 and R^2=0.47.