ABSTRACT
Since microbiological hazards associated with consumption of water originate from fecal contamination, the search for indicator organisms has logically been associated with organisms in the microbial flora of feces. The occurrence of viruses in sewage varies greatly as opposed to that of indicator bacteria, because the latter are regularly excreted in the feces of all warm-blooded animals. In addition to being inadequate for predicting viral pollution of water, the fecal coliform bacteria, under certain circumstances, may also be inadequate for determining the presence of bacterial pathogens. The excretion rate of viruses depends upon the number of infected individuals in a community. The isolation of viruses from 10 of 23 samples of "bacteriologically safe" potable water indicates again that bacteriological indicators are not adequate to monitor the occurrence of viruses in water. In addition to total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria, several other organisms and several nonorganismic substances have been suggested as indicators of fecal pollution.
