The Hach® Peel Plate HPC test is a new innovative method developed to streamline the determination of total heterotrophic bacteria numbers in water samples. The Hach Peel Plate test circumvents cumbersome media preparation steps that can lead to erroneous results, wasted materials, and increased labor costs. The Peel Plate HET test is based on Reasoner’s 2A agar (R2A agar) from Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, Section 9215. The Hach Peel Plate HET media also contains the redox-indicator substrate 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC). TTC is reduced by most bacteria to produce red colored colonies. It is incorporated into the formulary to facilitate the recognition and counting of colonies against the off-white plate background. The media also contains gelling and wicking agents which absorb and self-wick the sample, eliminating the requirement for manual spreading of the sample.