Dissolved oxygen utilization as an indicator of total microbial activity on non-metallic materials in contact with potable water.

The technique for the assessment of growth of micro-organisms on non-metallic materials in contact with potable water employs standard microbiological counting techniques and a subjective visual assessment to measure the microbial activity that occurs in the test procedure. An alternative method of assessing microbial activity based on utilization of dissolved oxygen is described and compared with the existing method. The dissolved oxygen method was found to be a suitable alternative, the main advantages being reproducibility of results and a reduction in the cost of the test.