Application of New Methods to Regular Water Hygiene Control

Many years of experience have shown that monitoring hygienic water quality by classical microbiological tests is an important means for the supply of safe drinking water. Nevertheless, well-known disadvantages of conventional methods are that they are time-consuming, labourintensive, and results are often taxonomically inaccurate. Additionally, in the last decade there has been increased sensibility towards so-called new pathogens, for instance viruses, giardia, and cryptosporidium, which are not or only partially covered by standard indicator systems. Recent developments, particularly concerning molecular biological methods, could help to overcome these problems. Thus, evaluation studies and standardization of procedures are necessary to force the approval of new methods by the health authorities, this being the basic requirement for routine application.