Advancements in biofilm formation and control in potable water distribution systems: A comprehensive review and analysis of chloramine decay in water systems

Because of their uncontrolled proliferation, biofilm-based diseases pose severe hazards to human life. Biofilm production makes the immune system resistant to antibiotics, emphasizing the need of prevention in human health. When pathogenic bacteria and fungi are injected into people, they develop biofilms and cause waterborne illnesses. Understanding the methods by which these biofilms arise is thus critical for creating techniques for removing them from water systems. This overview introduces biofilms, highlighting adhesion and detachment phenomena and growth basics. Following that, their production and stability in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) and their influence on living organisms are explored. This review focuses on biofilm treatment techniques such as ultrasound, photothermal and photodynamic methods, microbubbles, and chemical approaches (via nanomaterials). The following section delves into the most recent physical and chemical techniques to prevent biofilm development, emphasizing chloramine—a stable chemical utilized in DWDS to suppress microbial growth—and its decay kinetics. Finally, future study goals and recommendations for chloramine as a viable chemical for limiting microbial development are presented.