A US-wide survey of raw and finished drinking water from 28 water treatment
plants (WTPs) was conducted to investigate the occurrence and fate of dissolved organic
nitrogen (DON) in the water treatment plants (WTPs). Average DON concentrations in raw drinking water were 0.202
and 0.171 mgN/L in May-June and October-December surveys, respectively. Average DON
concentrations of raw and finished drinking water from the two surveys indicated an overall 20%
DON removal across the full-scale WTPs. Average DOC/DON ratio was 20 mgC/mgN, and
50% of the samples have DOC/DON ratios between 14 and 23 mgC/mgN. Molecular weight
analysis of DON has also been conducted, and DON fractionation roughly parallels DOC molecular weight distributions. Includes 9 references, table, figures.