Abstract:
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, pro ducing 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.
