The ongoing renegotiation of the Total Coliform
Rule will directly affect how water providers detect
and respond to contamination. This article summarizes
the issues and history surrounding the use of indicator
bacteria for detecting microbial contamination of
drinking water and provides background to help utilities
understand possible rule changes and participate
more meaningfully in the renegotiation process.
Numerous problems are associated with the use of
total coliform bacteria as the indicator of choice for
drinking water monitoring in the United States.
Escherichia coli has emerged as a viable replacement for
total coliforms because of advances in E. coli testing,
new understanding about distribution systems biofilms,
newly emerged waterborne pathogens, and growing
international acceptance of E. coli as an indicator of
fecal contamination. Replacing total coliform with E.
coli as the indicator of choice would significantly reduce
followup efforts now spent on total coliform detections
that have little or no public health significance. Includes 51 references.
| Edition : | Vol. 100 - No. 2 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 170 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 11 |
| Published : | 02/01/2008 |
