Comparative Study on Test Methods of Total Coliforms in Domestic Drinking Water

Abstract

Total coliforms are a group of facultative anaerobic Gram-negative sporeless bacteria that can ferment lactose, produce acid and gas, requiring oxygen. In this paper, it adopts three methods namely multi-tube fermentation method, membrane filter method and paper strip method to make analytic comparison on the total coliforms in drinking water. It also makes comparative study from aspects, i.e. test principle and procedure, scope of application and test result, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the three methods. According to the result, compared with the traditional fermentation method and the membrane filter method, the paper strip method has the advantages such as simple operation, short test time and high accuracy, etc.