.
MMO-MUG Method for determining bacteria in water
The simplest method we use to look for Total Coliform is the Colilet or Colisure powder. We take 100ml of water in the bottle on the left. We then break open one of the little powder packets and put it in the water. The powder is food specificaly designed for the bacteria we are trying to grow. A good example of how this works is if you put cookies out to catch the cookie monster. Just as cookies are cookie monster's favorite food, the powder we add is total coliform bacteria's favorite food.
.
Once we give the bacteria it's favorite food, we incubate it for 24 hours at 35 degrees C. This temperature is favorable to the specific type of bacteria we are looking for.
At the end of the incubation period we will get one of three results, which can be seen in the picture to the right. The left bottle is clear, which shows that there are no bacteria in that sample. The middle bottle is a yellow color; this indicates that Total Coliform bacteria are present. The right bottle is yellow and it glows purple under flurescent light; this indicates that E. coli is present in this sample.
The results given in this type of test tell us only if bacteria is present or not. We cannot tell how much bacteria are in a given sample.
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page