Long-term impacts of free chlorine and monochloramine on the development of drinking water biofilm

Biofilm formation in drinking water distribution systems is primarily managed by disinfectants such as free chlorine (FC) and monochloramine (MC). However, there is limited understanding of their long-term and dynamic effects on biofilm development. To address this, a 56-week study was conducted to comprehensively assess biofilm development in terms of microbial quantity and community under different disinfection regimes: no chlorine (NC), FC (0.1 mg/L), and MC (0.4 mg/L). The results showed that both FC and MC significantly inhibited biofilm growth compared to the NC condition while shaping distinct biofilm communities. Notably, FC drastically reduced biofilm biomass and community diversity, resulting in a more uniform biofilm community predominantly composed of Proteobacteria (e.g., Rhizobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., and Hyphomicrobium spp.), indicating stronger selection pressures on the microbial population. In contrast, though MC effectively reduced the biofilm biomass to a level comparable to that of FC, it maintained a high diversity comparable to that of NC (dominated by Sphingobium spp. and Nocardioides spp.), reflecting weaker selection pressure on bacterial community. Temporally, biofilm communities under all conditions started from nearly identical states. From week-19 and week-36 onwards, deterministic processes predominantly governed biofilm formation under FC and NC conditions, signifying that these biofilms reached a stable state. Differently, under MC condition, the community assembly was continually influenced by stochastic processes, with the biofilm not achieving stability until week-56. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the long-term dynamics of biofilm development and evidenced that FC is better than MC in controlling biofilm formation, particularly from the community diversity perspective. This challenges classical views that MC is more effective than FC in penetrating and controlling biofilm, which may change the popularity of MC as a disinfectant in water utilities.