Philip C. Singer, Academician of the American Academy of Engineering，was invited to the Environmental Forum on October 18th, giving an introduction on the history of research on disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water treatment and potential research fields in the future. The forum was hosted by SOE Dean Yu Gang.

Prof. Singer introduced the development of control standards and methods on DBPs, and the major control methods in the USA, including granular activated carbon filtration and the anion exchange method to remove the organic precursors. Prof. Singer said that as cytotoxic and genotoxic DBPs are, intense researches are needed on the production mechanism and the characteristics of new DBPs, and more advanced drinking water treatment technologies are need to reduce  DBPs in drinking water.

Prof. Philip C. Singer works in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research fields include the control of DBPs in drinking water, oxidization treatment with Ozone, flocculation and sedimentation of the natural organic matters, and liquid-solid separation.