Development of Practical Methods to Assess the Presence of Bacterial Pathogens in Water

Development of Practical Methods to Assess the Presence of Bacterial Pathogens in Water Synopsis

The objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a practical technique to indicate the probability of the presence of bacterial pathogens in receiving waters. A practical method was defined as one that would limit the use of defined culture-based microbiological methods, and would be based on: (1) validating indicator organisms that predicted the presence of pathogens, or (2) detection of pathogens by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. The study also assessed the utility of PCR-based technology for bacterial pathogen detection with respect to technology transfer to a wider range of water and wastewater facilities.