Fate of natural organic matter and THMs formation for raw and conventionally treated waters of El-Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) from raw and processed waters at a selected conventional water treatment plant was fractionated into hydrophobic, hydrophilic and transphilic fractions by physicochemical fractionation methods to study its characteristics. Contributions to dissolved organic matter (DOM) and formation potential of trihalomethanes (THMs) of the isolated fractions were investigated. The results showed that the hydrophilic fraction contributes to dissolved organic matter weight greater than both the hydrophobic and transphilic fractions; whereas the formation potential of trihalomethanes (THMs) was highly influenced by the hydrophobic fraction. However conventional treatment in New Al Azab drinking water treatment plant showed greater removal performance for the transphilic fraction than the hydrophilic one, while it didn’t show any removal performance for the hydrophobic species. Hydrophobic species of dissolved organic matter (humic substances (HS)) were further investigated. Trihalomethanes formation potential of hydrophobic matter showed significant correlations with hydrophobic concentration as well as UV absorbance at 254 nm, 260 nm and 280 nm.