title: Evaluation of media for simultaneous enumeration of total coliform and Escherichia coli in drinking water supplies by membrane filtration techniques.
abstract: This study evaluated three different dehydrated media for simultaneous detection and enumeration of total coliform (TC) and Escherichia coli in drinking water samples with a standard membrane filtration procedure. The experiment indicated that the differential coliform agar (DCA) medium was the most effective among the tested media in enumerating TC and E. coli, without the need for extensive accompanying confirmation tests. The results for DCA medium were highly reproducible for both TC and E. coli with standard deviation of 6.0 and 6.1, respectively. A high agreement (82%) was found between DCA and m-Endo media on 152 drinking water samples in terms of TC positive. The DCA medium also reduced concealment of background bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council, Suite 301, 6 Research Drive, Regina, S4S 7J7 Saskatchewan, Canada. Dunling.Wang@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
authors.forename: Dunling
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wanda
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fiessel
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*