Bacterial Indicators of Pollution in Surface Waters1

Abstract

BACTERIAL POLLUTION IN SURFACE WATERS use, and it grows readily at temperatures usually employed for incubation of sterility tests. This culture has been used in a manner comparable to that employed by Brewer in control of powders and oils (Brewer 1949, Long 1942). SUMMARY A heat-resistant, spore-forming microorganism identified as Clostridium sporogenes has been isolated from cotton. The microorganism is suggested for the deliberate contamination of equipment to serve as an indicator of the efficiency of sterilization techniques. REFERENCES BREWER, JOHN H. 1947 Problems involved in the sterility testing of nonaqueous pharmaceutical preparations.

Streptococci as Indices of Pollution in Well Waters

“…In accordance with the results of previous investigators (Savage and Wood, 1917;Leininger and McClesky, 1953), it appears to be doubtful if the streptococci ever grew in the stored samples. In only four cases was the MPN of streptococci higher in the stored sample.…”

“…Of 46 samples on which comparisons could be made, 23 contained more coliforms than streptococci, 22 contained more streptococci, and 1 contained an equal number. In other studies (Lattanzi and Mood, 1951;Leininger and McClesky, 1953;Litsky, Rosenbaum and France, 1953) the numbers of streptococci have been found to be much less than those of coliforms in sewage and in polluted water, but the procedures used were such as to limit the test to the enterococci. The effects of storage of samples at room temperature for 24 hours can be judged on the basis of the samples from 37 of the wells.…”

“…Mallmann and Litsky (1951) found enterococci to be good indicators of the public health hazard from sewage on soils and on vegetables. Using the method of Winter and Sandholzer (1946) for the detection of enterococci, Leininger and McClesky (1953) observed the difference between relatively clean and recently polluted surface water to be more strikingly shown by the enterococci than by the coliform test.…”

Comparative Studies on the Detection of Pollution of Water, Milk, and Ice Cream

“…While notable advances favor the use of fecal streptococci as an index of pollution in water (Leininger and McClesky, 1953;Morris and Weaver, 1954) and in food examination (Brown and Gibbons, 1950; Barnes et al, 1956;Mossel et al, 1957), critical reports seem to favor the indicative value of the coli-aerogenes group (Parr, 1938;Kelly and Arcisz, 1954;Gilereas and Kelly, 1955;Thomas et al, 1958). Masinova and Cledova, (1957) studied the biochemical properties of Escherichia coli in water and soil for over 2 years.…”

Microbiology of Frozen Orange Concentrate

“…The growth in this medium should be checked microscopically. Leininger and McCleskey (1953) examined various surface waters to determine bacterial indicators of pollution. In all waters studied, high total counts were associated with relatively high counts of coliforms, Ew,herichia coli and enterococci.…”