Construction of a leftover bath water model for microbial testing

In this study, in order to construct a model of leftover bath water, we analyzed one hundred samples of used bath water samples which were provided by twenty-eight volunteer families. It appeared that the number of detected bacteria from such bath water was correlated closely with the number of bathers. Moreover, the pH, acidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ion, protein content of the leftover bath water were measured. The number of bathers had no connection with the pH, acidity, COD, and ion content of the leftover bath water. However, the protein content of the bath water correlated with the number of detected bacteria. Based on these results, the model of leftover bath water was constructed. Achromobacter xylosoxidans, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa were incubated with the model bath water as indices of bath water contamination. The number of incubated viable cells in the model bath water increased with increasing concentrations of casamino acid. Consequently, it was suggested that varying the concentration of casamino acid based on family size or contamination would be necessary in the efficient use of the constructed model of leftover bath water for microbial testing.