Assessment of some drinking water plants efficiency at El-Menofeya Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate water quality from inlets and outlets of four drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) at El-Menofeya Governorate, Egypt. Results obtained from four seasonal trips (from January to December 2018) revealed variation in chemical, physical and microbiological properties of El-Rayah El-menofy. Some inlets (El-Bagour, Menof and Shibin El-Kom) recorded high concentrations of ammonia, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total alkalinity and depletion in dissolved oxygen. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci exceeded permissible limits of law 48/1982 for DWTPs inlets, while for DWTPs outlets are within the permissible standard limits of law 458/2007. The water quality index (WQI) categorized the plants inlets as being medium, while for plants outlets as being good. Six bacterial strains were discovered in DWTPs inlets by molecular analysis showed different 16s rRNA-gene sizes. Krona test showed varied appendance percentages, 99%, 67%, 6.2% and 4.9% Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in all DWTPs inlets. Nucleotide sequence data for bacterial strains were submitted to the NCBI GenBank database, USA and gained their accession numbers. Concluding remarks justify the strong correlation (r = +0.80) between physicochemical and bacteriological indicators in polluted aquatic ecosystems. The study recommends the protection of raw water resources from pollution by enforcement of actual applying of Egyptian laws coupled with rising the efficiency of water purification plants to ensure safe drinking water free of disease-causing agents.