Exploring Flow Cytometry for Monitoring of Microbial Water Quality During Maintenance of Drinking Water Pipes

Abstract: Faster methods of analysing microbial drinking water quality after pipe breaks or new pipe installations would have beneficial implications. This thesis investigates the use of flow cytometry and cultivation-based techniques in connection to maintenance works, and how flow cytometry can aid in the decision-making around putting drinking water pipes in operation. Previous work has not used online flow cytometry to assess microbiological water quality after pipe breaks, nor has the influence of the biofilm formation process on bacteria in the bulk water been well understood. Here, online flow cytometry combined with novel computational methods, including principal coordinates analysis and calculations of the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity metric based on flow cytometric fingerprints, are used to yield nuanced microbiological information. The potential benefit of applying flow cytometry in connection to maintenance or pipe installations has been shown to be substantial.