Assessment of drinking water treatment and disinfection by-products

Water treatment plants and disinfection by-products are a worldwide problem in the provision of drinking water with disinfectants. However, in countries like Ethiopia, studies on the condition of water treatment plants and the risks they pose are scarce. Hence, this study was designed to evaluate the drinking water treatment plants of Jimma Town. The WatPro v4 simulation was used to evaluate the performance of the water treatment plant and disinfection. The results show that the treatment efficiency of the study was estimated to be 69.75%, while giardia and virus were reduced by 22.6% and 75.34%, respectively, and did not meet the requirements for surface water treatment. Furthermore, the contact time of the water system did not meet the contact time requirement (it should be great than one), but it was 0.476 for this study, and the current water distribution network and treatment plant of Jimma town were underperforming and did not provide adequate water to the various demand categories. Due to the poor performance of water treatment plants, the health and economic well-being of the majority of the population is seriously affected, and some people refuse to drink it, preferring to treat it at home instead. Disinfection of drinking water (chlorination) causes some to react with naturally occurring organic matter or waterborne diseases, while others exist as free chlorine or residual chlorine, producing the disinfection by-products (DBP), increased risk of bladder cancer and other human health effects. Therefore, the study strongly suggests that DBP and their precursors be removed following chlorination. We believe that the study provided new and updated insights on the treatment condition and DBP risk, which could aid decision-makers, planners and stakeholders in monitoring actions to reduce the health risks associated with DBPs in drinking water.