Abstract: Drinking water disinfection wasan an important measure to improve the quality of drinking and protect public health against epidemics. During the disinfection process, a number of by-products were generated and some of them have adverse effectss on human health. This paper summarizes the research studies on disinfection by-products(DBPs), especially chlorination disinfection by-products (CDBPs), about their classes and distribution, factors influencing their generation, toxicity and adverse health effect as well as control methods for them, and finally presents suggestions for future research in drinking water and public health.

Key words: drinking water, DBPs, review