Rapid Water Quality Monitoring for Microbial Contamination

Abstract

There is a critical need for a rapid, portable and reliable testing methodology for microbial contamination in water due to the major limitations in current methodologies in terms of cost, time, and ease of use. The number of people residing in areas prone to water-borne diseases is ever increasing, and rapid detection technologies have become a necessity for such communities. Several researchers have designed and developed different test methods to detect indicator organisms (E. coli and total coliform) as rapidly as possible within a couple of hours. In this paper, we review recently developed water quality test methods for rapid water quality monitoring capable of detecting E. coli and total coliform.