BactiQuant® results are easy to interpret.
The fluorescence signal produced is proportional to the amount of bacteria present in a given water sample. Result categories can be defined for each application.
The BactiQuant® has been evaluated for the past two years by the largest water distributor in Denmark; KE Water of Copenhagen. More than 1000 parallel analysis have been performed, at over 200 locations through out The Copenhagen water distribution system. Parallel analysis included the BactiQuant® and the traditional standard method (DS/EN ISO 6222) for estimating heterotrophic plate counts at 22 and 36OC. Operative threshold values have been established and calibrated against results obtained with EN/ISO DS 6222. Today the BactiQuant® is an important tool in the day to day operations at the KE Water.
Set limits and define action
The real value of monitoring microbiological water quality lies in the detection of changes from those expected, based on frequent, long term monitoring. Therefore, the starting point for gaining the full potential of the Bactiquant technology is to establish baselines for a normal operation in Critical Control Points. It is then possible to use the historic data from a critical Control Point to calculate local operational limits that define a normal situation, an observation limit and an action limit, based on the principles of Statistical Process Control, described in ISO 11462-1:2001(E). The observation limit and the action limit are defined as analysis results that are more than 2 standard deviations and 3 standard deviations from the historic average, respectively.
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