Turbulent flow, solute transport, and chemical and biological decay are some of the basic processes encountered in water treatment plants. This paper presents recent developments in the numerical simulation of turbulent flow and disinfection processes in disinfection contact tanks. Simulation runs have been conducted for various tank design alternatives and in different grid resolutions. The accuracy of simulated contact tank flow and the disinfection process depends largely on calculations of the hydrodynamic and solute transport characteristics in the tanks. A key factor of this is the accuracy of advection and shear stress term computations, which can be affected by the use of different hydrodynamic submodels and numerical schemes. The performance of a simulation model relies to a great extent on the right combination of such submodels and numerical schemes. In this study, a number of simulation models were tested against realistic tank configurations and measurements to evaluate the various combinations of turbulence models and difference schemes by analyzing predicted flow and solute transport patterns, as well as the corresponding flow-through curves. Models for disinfection tank simulations are recommended based on comparisons of simulation results with measurements. These models may also be applied to other water treatment processes such as wastewater treatment.