AWWA WQTC65862

The objective of this powerpoint presentation was to develop a robust and rapid recovery method for multiple microbial indicator and pathogenic organisms for use in monitoring large volumes of water before, during, and after emergency situations. Specific project objectives were to: test the performance of candidate HFUFs showing promise for concentrating multiple classes of microbial indicators and pathogens, with an emphasis on reducing sample processing times; test flow modifications to effectively increase the flux of the HFUFs; perform experiments to determine the effect of filter pretreatment; and, test alternative elution solutions, and confirm results with low spiking concentrations of microbial indicator and pathogenic organisms. Methods and materials included three microbial indicators of Bacteria - E. coli K011 (ATCC 55124) and E. coli (environmental tetresistant isolate), Virus - coliphage MS2 (ATCC 15597-B1) and phage PRD-1 (ATCC BAA-769-B1), and Parasite - spores of Bacillus atrophaeus (ATCC 9372). Microbial pathogens included E. coli 0157:H7 (BioBall™, BTF Precise Microbiology, Inc.), Salmonella, Aeromonas hydophilla (MicroBioLogics, Inc.), Echovirus-12, Adenovirus 41 (ATCC VR-930, and Cryptosporidium and Giardia (ColorSeed, BTF Precise Microbiology, Inc.). Test waters and eluting solutions are provided. The summary of findings includes: the two HFUFs (Fresenius F80A and Hemocor HPH) performed similarly in SFPUC dechlorinated drinking waters and may be used interchangeably, depending upon their availabilities; the Hemocor HPH showed higher microbial recovery efficiencies compared to the Fresenius F80A for source waters although the sample processing times were not significantly different; and, pretreatment of HFUFs (overnight with eluting solutions) showed no statistically significant increases in microbial recovery efficiency but did increase the sample processing times; three eluting solutions were tested and were shown to be statistically equivalent for recovering microbes from the Fresenius F80A HFUFs in SFPUC source and drinking water; there were no significant differences in the recovery rate by the modified HFUF system with high and low concentrations of microbial indicators in source and drinking waters; and, modifications for the HFUF filter end caps show promise for increasing microbial recovery rates and significantly decrease the sample processing times. Includes tables.