Water Nuggets Practice Exam

The disinfection treatment process focuses on the removal, deactivation, or killing of pathogenic microorganisms. This is a crucial step in ensuring the safety of water for consumption. Disinfection aims to reduce the number of harmful pathogens present in the water to levels that pose no threat to human health.

This process can involve various methods such as chlorination, UV treatment, or ozonation, each working to either inactivate or eliminate microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa that can cause disease. The term 'disinfection' specifically refers to the treatment of water to achieve these goals, rather than complete sterilization (which is typically more extensive and may involve higher levels of treatment not usually required for drinking water).

While the other options mention important aspects of water treatment, they do not accurately capture the core purpose of the disinfection process itself. For instance, sterilization implies a total destruction of all forms of life, which is generally not the focus of disinfection in water treatment. Similarly, while the removal of THMs (trihalomethanes) and TDS (total dissolved solids) is vital for water quality, it does not pertain to the disinfection treatment specifically, which is solely concerned with pathogens.