Comparison of methods of enumerating coliforms after UV disinfection

In view of the differences that have been found between the most-probable-number and membrane filtration methods for the recovery of coliforms from chlorinated samples, the survival of total and fecal coliforms in UV-irradiated effluent samples, as tested by the most-probable-number and standard single-step membrane filtration methods, was compared. There were no significant differences in the survival of total and fecal coliforms, as tested by the two methods. In a separate set of experiments comparing total and fecal coliform survival, as tested by the most-probable-number method, only a very small but statistically significant difference of 0.1 log survival units was found. For UV-disinfected wastewater effluents, standard one-step membrane filtration procedures are comparable to standard most-probable-number procedures.