Total Coliforms

February 2006

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Table of Contents

• 1.0 Guideline
• 2.0 Executive summary for microbiological quality of drinking water
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Background
  • 2.3 Bacteria
  • 2.4 Health effects
  • 2.5 Exposure
  • 2.6 Treatment
• 3.0 Application of the guideline
  • 3.1 Public drinking water supply systems
    • 3.1.1 Testing requirements
    • 3.1.2 Notification
    • 3.1.3 Corrective actions
  • 3.2 Semi-public and private drinking water systems
    • 3.2.1 Testing Requirements
    • 3.2.2 Notification
    • 3.2.3 Corrective actions for disinfected supplies (surface water supplies and groundwaters under the direct influence of surface waters)
    • 3.2.4 Corrective actions for non-disinfected wells
• 4.0 Significance of total coliforms in drinking water
  • 4.1 Description
  • 4.2 Sources
• 5.0 Role of total coliforms in maintaining drinking water quality
  • 5.1 Public systems
  • 5.2 Semi-public and private systems
• 6.0 Role of disinfectant residuals in maintaining drinking water quality
• 7.0 Analytical methods for total coliforms
  • 7.1 Presence-absence procedure
  • 7.2 Membrane filter procedure
  • 7.3 Multiple tube fermentation procedure
• 8.0 Sampling for total coliforms
  • 8.1 Sample size
  • 8.2 Sampling frequency
  • 8.3 Location of sampling points
  • 8.4 Handling of samples
• 9.0 Treatment technology
  • 9.1 Municipal technology
  • 9.2 Residential
• 10.0 Conclusions and recommendations
  • 10.1 Drinking water quality
    • 10.1.1 Public drinking water supply systems
    • 10.1.2 Semi-public and private drinking water supply systems
  • 10.2 Sampling frequency and sampling size
  • 10.3 Considerations for the treatment of raw supplies
• 11.0 References
• Appendix A: Decision tree for routine microbiological testing of public systems
• Appendix B: Decision tree for routine microbiological testing of semi-public and private systems
• Appendix C: List of acronyms