Checking for faecal contamination? Lab M’s water test medium meets ISO criteria

Lab M’s new DRCM (ISO) is unique in being the only complete and ISO formulated Differential Reinforced Clostridial Medium on the market. DRCM (ISO) is used for the detection of Clostridia spores from water and environmental samples using the Most Probable Number (MPN) technique. Clostridia spores are often used as an indicator of faecal contamination and DRCM (ISO) rapidly provides a visual indication of their presence or absence.

As part of Lab M’s highly regarded anaerobe range, DRCM (ISO) is a standardised medium formulated to ISO 26461-1 for the detection and enumeration of the spores of sulphite-reducing anaerobes (Clostridia) in water. Simple to prepare, this medium enables the confident detection and enumeration of the spores of sulphite-reducing anaerobes in just 46 hours.

Clostridia spores are widespread in the environment and are more resistant than vegetative cells to physical and chemical change, and also to chlorination. Consequently they often survive in water for long periods of time and can be useful indicators of intermittent and remote faecal contamination.

After first heat treating samples to remove vegetative cells, DRCM (ISO) is used with the Most Probable Number (MPN) method to determine clostridia content per volume of sample. Thanks to the inclusion of iron (III) citrate in the DRCM formulation, blackening of the medium indicates sulphite reduction, highlighting the presence of sulphite-reducing bacteria.

Lab M’s water testing range

The ability to determine the microbiological status of water is important not only for potable supplies, industrial waters and wastewater treatment, it also applies to the testing and monitoring of many different water sources, including those used for recreational purposes. To meet all these needs, Lab M provides microbiological culture media for applications ranging from the estimation of overall numbers of culturable micro-organisms right through to the highly sensitive detection of faecal contamination and the specific isolation of Legionella pneumophila.

Water Plate Count Agar (ISO) and R2A Medium, for example, deliver the total viable counts needed when assessing ground water integrity, water treatment processes and water supplies for food and beverage preparation. Lab M’s Harlequin™ mLGA chromogenic medium and Tryptone Bile Agar enable the highly sensitive detection of faecal contamination in water, while Slanetz & Bartley medium is used for the presumptive enumeration of Enterococci using a membrane filtration technique (as described in ISO 7899-2:2000).

For Legionella detection, BCYE Legionella Medium is described in internationally recognised methodology (ISO 11731:1998) for the isolation of Legionella spp. from water. Lab M’s selective supplement GVPC aids the specific isolation of Legionella pneumophila.

For more about DRCM (ISO) >>Click HERE<<

Find your local Lab M distributor at http://www.labm.com/distributor-finder.asp

For the complete Lab M range of microbiology productswww.labm.com

Lab M Limited
Tel: +44 (0)161 797 5729
mailto:info@labm.com