Standards for biological parameters for drinking water

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Hi everyone,

In our drinking water lab, we investigate 7 biological parameters: chlorophyceae, cyanophyceae, crustaceae, protozoa, nematod, rotifer and diatoms.

is there a special standard for the count of these parameters in drinking water or if there should be none of them in drinking water, is there any special standard that mentions this?

After glancing at the references some friends suggested (like GUDI) now I am in doubt if it is necessary to test and count these parameters? Because cryptosporidium and giardia are mostly mentioned for monitoring.

I would appreciate if you can help me revise our instruction for groundwater, surface water and treatment plant influent and effluent. Please share the special reference for what you propose.

Taxonomy

7 Answers

  1. Help Needed.  Please advise where we can find laboratory in Myanmar that can conduct biological test for bacteria in drinking water?

  5. Dear Mahshid

    Monitoring the microbiological quality of drinking water is conducted for two separate purposes. Firstly, a proper risk assessment must establish that water treatment is sufficient to manage the risk (World Health Organisation – Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality). It requires knowledge on the occurrence of waterborne pathogens (viruses, bacteria and protozoa) in the raw water and the ideal approach is to obtain this information from monitoring. If it is not feasible to do this, it is possible to make estimates based on the type of raw water.

    The seconnd purpose is for routine monitoring to detect the presence of bacteria that indicate the potential presence of faecal contamination. Their occurrence may indicate a breach in the integrity of the water supply network that could potentially compromise public health. E. coli is just about still accepted as the universal indicator of faecal contamination. Controversy surrounds the significance of the other coliform bacteria, however. My view is that, whilst they are not necessarily definitive indicators of the presence of faecal contamination, they could still be indicating a potential pathway permitting ingress into the water supply.

    You do not give your reasons for selecting the organisms you have listed or the monitoring regime. Testing for their presence would be no routine operational value. Their presence, however, is obviously very undesirable and would indicate a serious breach in the integrity of the network. Consequently, their origin would need to be sought and any deficiencies put right.

    1 Comment

    1. then which method will be the best for bateriological analysis of drinking water MPN or membrane filter technique?????

  7. Dear Mashid, yes it is essential to follow standards for the Microbial Parameters to obtain good drinking Water Quality. WHO has developed the criteria as well the standards for each parameter.

    I am sharing Standards given by WHO for drinking water :

    http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwqvol32ed.pdf

    You have mentioned some of the coliform group parameter, see here details for their identification, characteristic and standards

    http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwqvol32ed.pdf

    If you require any other detail get back to me.

    One more detailed case study for how to do biological parameters check for the area- http://libvolume4.xyz/environmental/btech/semester5/watertreatmenttechnology/physicalchemicalandbacteriologicalqualityofwater/physicalchemicalandbacteriologicalqualityofwaternotes2.pdf