AWWA PATH56550

In response to a need for better pathogen method characterization by both the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the regulated industry, and for more meaningful quantitative quality control (QC) by laboratories, five of the most recent methods developed by USEPA to support new regulations were standardized and characterized through interlaboratory validation studies involving quantitative assessments of method performance. These methods include: USEPA Method 1601: Male-specific (F+) and Somatic Coliphage in Water by Two-step Enrichment Procedure; USEPA Method 1602: Male-specific (F+) and Somatic Coliphage in Water by Single Agar Layer (SAL) Procedure; USEPA Method 1605: Aeromonas in Finished Water by Membrane Filtration using Ampicillin- Dextrin Agar with Vancomycin (ADA-V); USEPA Method 1623: Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Water by Filtration/IMS/FA; and, USEPA Method 1622: Cryptosporidium in Water by Filtration/IMS/FA. The objectives of the studies conducted for these methods were to: characterize interlaboratory and intralaboratory method precision and bias to enable USEPA and the regulated industry to determine whether the methods would meet anticipated regulatory monitoring needs; and, establish quantitative QC acceptance criteria, so laboratory data could be evaluated against realistic data quality expectations.