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Microbiological Water Quality Of Impoundments: A Literature Review, G. Allen Burton Jr.

Public Health Resources

Assessing the microbiological water quality of impoundments and the potential for waterborne disease outbreaks is a difficult task when using traditional sampling programs. Problems associated with using fecal coliform bacteria as indicators of human pathogen presence complicates assessments of future water quality in preimpoundment areas. Reliable determination of future and present microbiological water quality requires knowledge of how the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of the watershed and impoundment interrelate to influence microbial indicator and pathogen densities. Accurate estimates of microbial indicator and pathogen densities, obtainable by using the enumeration methods and their modifications suggested in this report, will allow …