Sanitary regulation and sanitary control – the basis of ensuring water body safety

Summary

Water safety is provided with two complementary processes: sanitary regulation and sanitary control of water bodies. The task of sanitary regulation is setting safety requirements to biological, chemical and physical indices. Sanitary representative microorganisms include representatives of obligatory microflora of human and homoiotherm organisms that allow estimating the degree of biogeneous pollution. These are Escherichia coli (collibacillus), fecal streptococcus (enterococcus), sulfite-reducing clostridia spores, Proteus, thermophilic microorganisms, coliphages (bacterial viruses) etc. Sanitary index is reflecting the presence and amount of one or another sanitary representative microorganism in a specified sample size taken from the water body under investigation. Qualitative sanitary index reflects and regulates the absence or presence of specified microorganisms in a specified sample size. Quantitative sanitary index is the concentration of specified (unknown) microorganisms in the specified sample size. Index figure reflects the degree of fecal contamination of the water body (Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, coliphages). Indicator figure reflects the efficiency of disinfection processes and technologies and points at possible presence of pathogens with different tolerance (Clostridium perfringens, coliphages). World Health Organization recommends distinguishing between two types of microbiological monitoring: for estimating water treatment efficiency; for identifying fecal pollution and presence of pathogens.

Key words

potable water , water object , sanitary and epidemiological requirements , pathogens , sanitary index