Assessment of drinking water quality along Port Said Canal treatment plants, Suez Canal corridor, Egypt

Port Said Canal is one of the man-made Nile branches in Egypt that gain its water supply via the Ismailia Canal. The canal extended parallel to the Suez Canal navigation route providing the surrounding region the necessary drinking and irrigation waters. The water treatment plants along the canal use the surface water as a crude supply without preliminary pre-filtration process, and chlorination is applied in two phases, which may impose some health hazards. The study aims to ensure that the finished water is safe to drink and meet the international drinking water regulations. The public water purification systems in four treatment plants along Port Said Canal were tested for their efficiency and chlorination by-products. Raw and treated waters in these plants were analyzed for organic, toxic, trace, and heavy elements. Flow measurements were implemented at five sections along the main canal course during the summer and the winter seasons. Results indicated that the treated water suffers from low filtering effectiveness and exceeds the drinking water standards for the trihalomethane species. Furthermore, the change of canal flow from influent to effluent conditions during the winter season increases the contaminants’ concentrations. Also, the heavy metal concentrations in the treated water samples from all treatment works were much higher than that of the raw water samples, especially for those higher in suspended particulate matter. The study proposed a better purification system including, sedimentation and gravel pre-filtration combined with slow sand filtration and underground water passage for the elimination of the existing pollution problems.