Drinking Water Engineering and Science
www.drink-water-eng-sci.net
1996-9457
1996-9465
1
1
2008
10.5194/dwes-1-1-2008
http://www.drink-water-eng-sci.net/1/1/2008/
http://www.drink-water-eng-sci.net/1/1/2008/dwes-1-1-2008.html
http://www.drink-water-eng-sci.net/1/1/2008/dwes-1-1-2008.pdf
1
6
2008-06-02
Correlations between total cell concentration, total adenosine tri-phosphate concentration and heterotrophic plate counts during microbial monitoring of drinking water
E. Siebel
Y. Wang
T. Egli
F. Hammes
frederik.hammes@eawag.ch
Swiss Federal Inst. of Aquatic Sci. and Technol. (Eawag), Überlandstr. 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
The general microbial quality of drinking water is normally monitored by
heterotrophic plate counts (HPC). This method has been used for more than
100 years and is recommended in drinking water guidelines. However, the HPC
method is handicapped because it is time-consuming and restricted to
culturable bacteria. Recently, rapid and accurate detection methods have
emerged, such as adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) measurements to assess
microbial activity in drinking water, and flow cytometry (FCM) to determine
the total cell concentration (TCC). It is necessary and important for
drinking water quality control to understand the relationships among the
conventional and new methods. In the current study, all three methods were
applied to 200 drinking water samples obtained from two local buildings
connected to the same distribution system. Samples were taken both on normal
working days and weekends, and the correlations between the different
microbiological parameters were determined. TCC in the samples ranged from
0.37–5.61×10<sup>5</sup> cells/ml, and two clusters, the so-called
high (HNA) and low (LNA) nucleic acid bacterial groups, were clearly
distinguished. The results showed that the rapid determination methods
(i.e., FCM and ATP) correlated well (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup>=0.69), but only a weak
correlation (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup>=0.31) was observed between the rapid methods and
conventional HPC data. With respect to drinking water monitoring, both FCM
and ATP measurements were confirmed to be useful and complimentary
parameters for rapid assessing of drinking water microbial quality.
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