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In drinking water supply systems, formation of biofilm is associated with technical and hygiene problems which may cause an increased health risk. Techniques of monitoring therefore need to be optimized and adapted to yield valid and informative data. The aim of this research was to develop an effective method of biofilm sampling from the surface of the pipe material in order to perform quantitative analysis and identify the advantages and limitations of the quantitative determination of the number of microorganisms using three different microbiological methods: classical heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), flow cytometry, luminometry. Based on the conducted research, the following was concluded: the best method to detach the biofilm from the surface of the coupons is mechanical separation with a sterile swab. The swab was placed in 30 ml of Ringer’s solution and exposed to ultrasounds, the optimal duration of ultrasounds, is 60 s for sonicator power of 28 W. Attention should be given to the volume of solutions, which is selected depending on the operating time and the sonicator power (30 ml is optimal). Due to the simplicity and speed of obtaining results, the luminometric ATP measurement has been established as the best method for the quantification of microorganisms in biofilms. |
