Occurrence of cyanobacteria and microcystin toxins in raw and treated waters of the Nile River, Egypt: implication for water treatment and human health.

Monitoring of cyanobacteria and their associated toxins has intensified in raw water sources of drinking water treatment plants (WTPs) in most countries of the world. However, it is not explored yet for Egyptian WTPs. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the occurrence of cyanobacteria and their microcystin (MC) toxins in the Nile River source water of Damietta WTP during warm months (April-September 2013) and to evaluate the removal efficiency of both cyanobacterial cells and MCs by conventional methods used in this plant as a representative of Egyptian drinking WTPs.