Chapter 10 MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSES （第十章微生物分析）.pdf

Water Quality Monitoring - A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of Freshwater Quality Studies and Monitoring Programmes Edited by Jamie Bartram and Richard Ballance Published on behalf of United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization © 1996 UNEP/WHO ISBN 0 419 22320 7 (Hbk) 0 419 21730 4 (Pbk) Chapter 10 - MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSES This chapter was prepared by J. Bartram and S. Pedley The discharge of wastes from municipal sewers is one of the most important water quality issues world-wide. It is of particular significance to sources of drinking-water. Municipal sewage contains human faeces and water contaminated with these effluents may contain pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms and, consequently, may be hazardous to human health if used as drinking-water or in food preparation. Faecal contamination of water is routinely detected by microbiological analysis. It is impractical to attempt the routine isolation of pathogens because they are present in relatively small numbers compared with other types of micro-organism. Moreover, there are many types of pathogen and each requires a unique microbiological isolation technique. The approach that has been adopted is to analyse for indicator organisms that inhabit the gut in large numbers and are excreted in human faeces. The presence of these indicator organisms in water is evidence of faecal contamination and, therefore, of a risk that pathogens are present. If indicator organisms are present in large numbers, the contamination is considered to be recent and/or severe. Bacteria in water are, in general, not present individually, but as clumps or in association with particulate matter. When enumerating bacteria in water it is not the number of individual bacteria present which are counted, but the number of clumps of bacteria or the particles and their associated bacteria. Each clump or particle may have many bacteria associated with it. 10.