title: Methods for microbiological quality assessment in drinking water: a comparative study.
abstract: The present study aimed to compare several methods for quantifying and discriminating between the different physiological states of a bacterial population present in drinking water. Flow cytometry (FCM), solid-phase cytometry (SPC), epifluorescence microscopy (MSP) and culture method performances were assessed by comparing the results obtained for different water samples. These samples, including chlorinated and non-chlorinated water, were collected in a drinking water treatment plant. Total bacteria were quantified by using SYBR Green II (for FCM) and 4',6'-diamino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (for MSP), viable and non-viable bacteria were distinguished by using SYBR Green II and propidium iodide dual staining (for FCM), and active cells were distinguished by using CTC (for MSP) and Chemchrome V6 (for FCM and SPC). In our conditions, counts using microscopy and FCM were significantly correlated regarding total bacteria and active cells. Conversely, counts were not significantly similar using solid-phase and FCM for active bacteria. Moreover, the R2A medium showed that bacterial culturability could be recovered after chlorination. This study highlights that FCM appears to be a useful and powerful technique for drinking water production monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Helmi
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barthod
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Méheut
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poty
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Laurent
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France E-mail: karim.helmi@veolia.com.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Charni-Ben-Tabassi
mesh_terms: D058491:Bacterial Load; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water