Coliform Bacteria in Drinking Water

Coliform bacteria can be destroyed using a home UV System.

Coliform bacteria are a very common water pollutant in drilled and dug wells. Coliform bacteria are a type of bacteria that are found in the guts of ruminant animals such as cattle. In these animals Coliform bacteria play an important role in the normal digestive process. Because Coliform bacteria is present in the guts of these animals, it is also present in their feces. Wells that are contaminated with coliform bacteria are essentially wells that have been exposed to the excrement of animals.

Bacteria that are found in water are measured in CFU's. A CFU is a "colony forming unit". They are given this name based on the laboratory testing methods used for counting bacteria such as coliform. A water sample is shaken and then a small amount of this water is plated on a bacterial growth media. The plate is then incubated in an oven and after about a day any bacteria present will have multiplied forming a small colony that appears as a dot. The colonies are counted and this results in the bacterial "count" which is reported.

The good news is that coliform bacteria is not particularly dangerous. Most health units or departments of health will consider water with less than 5 CFU's safe to consume. So this question arises: why test for coliform in the first place if it is not particularly dangerous? The answer is simple. The presence of coliform bacteria indicates the existence of a pathway through which a water supply can be contaminated with animal waste. Animal waste can introduce a number of very dangerous organisms into a water supply, not the least of which is e.coli bacteria. So, coliform bacteria is used to indicate the possibility of future contamination by a much more dangerous group of bugs.

The good news is that both coliform and e.coli bacteria can be easily and quite affordably eliminated from a water supply using home UV Systems.