Ever since the recognition of the important role of water in the transmission of pathogenic micro-organisms in the 19th century, microbiological safety of drinking water has been a major research issue for microbiologists in the drinking water industry. The main objective of this book is to develop a general strategy to assess elimination capacity of water treatment processes for pathogens. It investigates: * The potential use of faecal indicators Coli44, (including E. Coli) and SSRC, (including C. perfringens) as process indicators to assess pathogen elimination in full-scale water treatment plants. * The value of comparative challenge tests with pre-cultured organisms for the assessment of elimination capacity of full-scale processes, to study the effect of process conditions and to validate the use of process indicators. * The use of literature data to assess elimination capacity of water treatment processes for pathogens and the effect of process conditions on this.
Microbiologically safe drinking water; Indicator bacteria concentrations in water treatment and assessment of elimination capacity; Enumeration of faecal indicator bacteria in large water volumes using on site membrane filtration to assess water treatment efficiency; Quantitative assessment of the removal of indicator bacteria in full-scale treatment plants; Spores of sulphite-reducing clostridia (SSRC) as surrogate for verification inactivation capacity of full-scale ozonation for Cryptosporidium; Inactivation credit of UV-radiation for viruses, bacteria and protozoan oocysts: a review; Elimination of viruses, bacteria and protozoan oocysts by slow sand filtration; Removal and fate of Cryptosporidium parvum, Clostridium perfringens and Stephanodiscus hamtzschii in slow sand filters; Transport of phage MS2, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Giardia intestinalis in a gravel and a sandy soil; General discussion