Automated electrical impedance technique for rapid enumeration of fecal coliforms in effluents from sewage treatment plants

Fecal coliforms growing in a selective lactose-based broth medium at 44.5 degrees C generate a change in the electrical impedance of the culture relative to a sterile control when populations reach 10(6) to 10(7) per ml. The ratio of these changes was measured automatically, and the data were processed by computer. A linear relation was found between the log10 of the number of fecal coliforms in an inoculum and the time required for an electrical impedance ratio signal to be detected. Pure culture inocula consisting of 100 fecal coliforms in log phase or stationary phase were detected in 6.5 and 7.7 h, respectively. Standard curves of log10 fecal coliforms in wastewater inocula versus detection time, based on samples collected at a sewage treatment plant over a 4-month period, were found to vary from one another with time. Nevertheless, detection times were rapid and ranged from 5.8 to 7.9 h for 200 fecal coliforms to 8.7 to 11.4 h for 1 fecal coliform. Variations in detection times for a given number of fecal coliforms were also found among sewage treatment plants. A strategy is proposed which takes these variations into account and allows for rapid, automated enumeration of fecal coliforms in wastewater by the electrical impedance ratio technique.