When you get a drink of water from your fridge or sink, do you think about where that water came from? It has traveled through pipes from a water treatment plant where it underwent chemical processes to make it safe to drink. Chlorine is added to the water to eradicate harmful bacteria that cause illnesses like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. But the chlorine can react with natural materials in the water, creating disinfection byproducts (DBPs) that can be harmful to people. Specifically, when bromide is present in the water from natural sources or from human activities, such as wastewater discharges at power plants, the disinfection byproducts formed are more toxic.