Ambient-temperature Incubation for the Field Detection Ofescherichia Coliin Drinking Water

Aims:  Escherichia coli is the pre‐eminent microbiological indicator used to assess safety of drinking water globally. The cost and equipment requirements for processing samples by standard methods may limit the scale of water quality testing in technologically less developed countries and other resource‐limited settings, however. We evaluate here the use of ambient‐temperature incubation in detection of E. coli in drinking water samples as a potential cost‐saving and convenience measure with applications in regions with high (>25°C) mean ambient temperatures.