Microbiological Parameters under the Drinking Water Directive Current state of art on somatic coliphages and Clostridium perfringens and spores Marie-Cécile Lamy, Isabella Sanseverino, Magdalena Niegowska and Teresa Lettieri 2020 EUR 29932 EN This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. For information on the methodology and quality underlying the data used in this publication for which the source is neither Eurostat nor other Commission services, users should contact the referenced source. 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Contact information Name: Teresa Lettieri Address: Joint Research Centre (JRC), Directorate D-Sustainable Resources, Unit D.02 Water and Marine Resources, TP 121, Via Enrico Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy Email: [email protected] Tel.: +39 0332789868 EU Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRC118219 EUR 29932 EN PDF ISBN 978-92-76-12593-8 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2760/005492 Print ISBN 978-92-76-12592-1 ISSN 1018-5593 doi:10.2760/5359 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 © European Union, 2020 The reuse policy of the European Commission is implemented by the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not owned by the EU, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. All content © European Union, 2020 How to cite this report: Marie-Cécile Lamy, Isabella Sanseverino, Magdalena Niegowska and Teresa Lettieri, Microbiological Parameters under the Drinking Water Directive. Current state of art on somatic coliphages and Clostridium perfringens and spores, EUR 29932 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, ISBN 978-92-76-12593-8, doi:10.2760/005492, JRC118219 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 3 Executive summary ............................................................................................... 4 1. Drinking water, a right for all citizens ................................................................... 7 1.1 Drinking water can be source of infections ....................................................... 8 2. Human Enteric Viruses ..................................................................................... 11 3. State of the art on coliphages ............................................................................ 13 3.1 Bacteriophages as the starting point ............................................................. 13 3.2 The reproduction of bacteriophages .............................................................. 14 3.2.1 Attachment of bacteriophages to the host cell bacteria ............................. 14 3.2.2 Replication and release of new viral particles .......................................... 15 3.3 Coliphages in the assessment of water quality ............................................... 16 3.4 Persistence of coliphages in the environment ................................................. 19 3.5 Somatic coliphages as potential indicators for monitoring faecal contamination and viral contamination in drinking water ........................................................... 19 3.6 Standardised methods for detection of bacteriophages in water ....................... 32 3.7 Promising culture-based and non-culture based methods ................................ 37 3.7.1 Culture-based methods ........................................................................ 37 3.7.2 Non culture-based methods .................................................................. 38 3.8 Discussion on somatic coliphages as indicator of viral contamination in drinking water ....................................................................................................... 44 3.9 Recommendation ....................................................................................... 45 3.10 New perspectives and outlook for monitoring human viruses ......................... 46 4. State of the art on Clostridium perfringens and spores ......................................... 48 4.1 Description of Clostridium perfringens bacterium and spores ........................... 48 4.2 Infections associated with Clostridium perfringens .......................................... 49 4.3 History of Clostridium perfringens as indicator to assess water quality .............. 49 4.4 Clostridium perfringens and spores as an indicator for the presence of parasites in drinking water ........................................................................................... 50 4.4.1 Cryptosporidium spp. ........................................................................... 50 4.4.2 Giardia lamblia .................................................................................... 52 4.4.3 Persistence of Clostridium perfringens, Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia in the environment .................................................................. 55 4.4.4 Occurence of Clostridium perfringens, Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia in water ................................................................................. 56 4.5 Removal or inactivation during drinking water process .................................... 59 4.6 Methods for the detection of Clostridium perfringens and/or its spores in water . 63 4.6.1 Culture-based methods ........................................................................ 63 4.6.2 Non-culture based methods .................................................................. 67 4.7 Discussion on Clostridium perfringens and spores detection and use as surrogate for Giardia and Cryptosporidium in drinking water ......................................... 71 4.8 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 73 Annex I .............................................................................................................. 75 1.1 Outbreaks in Europe ................................................................................... 75 1.2 Outbreaks in Canada .................................................................................. 79 1.3 Outbreaks in the USA ................................................................................. 79 1.4 Outbreaks in Australia ................................................................................ 80 1 1.5 Outbreaks in New Zealand........................................................................... 81 Annex II ............................................................................................................. 82 Annex III ............................................................................................................ 83 Annex IV ............................................................................................................ 84 Annex V ............................................................................................................. 86 List of abbreviations and definitions ....................................................................... 88 List of figures ...................................................................................................... 90 List of tables ....................................................................................................... 91 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 92 2 Acknowledgements We kindly acknowledge for the fruitful comments Tatjana Rupel, Dana Baudišová and Lucia Bonadonna. We thank Tommy Slapokas, Tarja Pitkänen for helpful discussion. We would like to thank Úna Cullinan for making available all required literature and Ramòn Pérez de Lara for producing some of the figures. Finally we also thank Tobias Biermann and Maja Dorota Feder (DG ENV). Authors Marie-Cécile Lamy Isabella Sanseverino Magdalena Niegowska Teresa Lettieri 3 Executive summary Background In November 1998, the European Council adopted a directive, the Drinking Water Directive (DWD), concerning the quality of water intended for human consumption. It includes a certain number of microbiological, chemical or physical criteria or parameters to monitor, to ensure that i) it is “clean”, ii) the distribution network is safe and iii) to react promptly in case of contamination (Directive 98/83/EC)1. The Directive has been implemented by Member States, but its approach to monitoring quality at the point of consumption