Treatment's Toxic Twist
New research reveals some textile wastewater treatment systems create dangerous toxins for health and water.
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A new study has found that a common method used to clean toxic textile wastewater is actually creating new poisons — in some cases, ones far more dangerous than the original pollution. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discovered that a popular water treatment technology produces chloroform and bromoform at levels up to 6.5 times above safe drinking water limits, according to UMass Amherst News.
The findings, published June 1, 2026 in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, expose a hidden risk inside textile factories worldwide. The chemicals are not just in the water — they are airborne, meaning workers may be breathing them in every day.
Salt Used to Speed Cleaning Creates Toxic Gases
The problem starts with a shortcut. Factories add ordinary table salt to wastewater before running electricity through it. The salt makes water conduct electricity better, which breaks down stubborn dyes faster and uses less power. The industry saw this as a "green" win. But the UMass research shows the salt reacts with dye molecules during the process to form chlorinated and brominated byproducts — essentially, it creates chloroform and bromoform inside the treatment tank.
The numbers are alarming. Bromoform reached 526 parts per billion (ppb) in wastewater from bromine-containing dyes. The EPA's safety limit for similar compounds in drinking water is just 80 ppb. Chloroform levels were three times higher than what is considered safe for showering, according to El Periódico.
Factory Workers Breathing Chloroform Without Knowing It
Lead scientist Sean McBeath, an assistant professor at UMass Amherst, says the danger is not only in the water. "As we did our research, we started to uncover that, in industrially relevant concentrations, a huge amount of byproducts are formed," he said. He warns that chloroform and bromoform are volatile — meaning they evaporate into the air. Workers in textile wet-processing plants may be inhaling these gases right now.
Long-term exposure to chloroform and bromoform is linked to liver and kidney damage. Both are considered potentially cancer-causing. The workers most at risk are in textile manufacturing hubs across South Asia, China, and Latin America — regions where electro-oxidation technology spread rapidly between 2020 and 2025.
Industry Complies With Rules That Do Not Cover These Chemicals
Here is the core problem: factories are breaking no laws. Current environmental regulations focus on what goes into treatment, not what comes out of it. These new toxic compounds — called transformation products — are not listed on any discharge permit. Regulators have simply never tested for them, according to Texfash reporting on the study.
European researcher Sílvia Lacorte of IDAEA-CSIC has warned for years that "each treatment can generate new compounds more toxic than the original ones." Her earlier work on flame retardants and microplastics showed the same pattern: modern treatment plants are not built to catch the smaller, more mobile chemicals that treatment itself creates.
Three Fixes Exist, But All Cost Money
The UMass study proposes three ways to reduce the danger. Factories can swap salt for a safer electrolyte. They can use new catalysts that break down dyes without forming toxic gases. Or they can install physical barriers to capture the volatile byproducts before they escape. All three options require significant investment — which could raise the cost of textile production in markets that face tighter rules, according to Diario Córdoba.
The textile industry produces 20% of all global industrial water pollution and is the world's second-largest water user, according to World Bank data. Azo dyes — the type most linked to these toxic byproducts — make up roughly 50% of all dyes sold worldwide. Researchers now expect this study to push regulators in Europe and the US to add transformation product monitoring to industrial discharge rules for the first time.
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