Assessment of a new technique combining a viability test, whole‐cell hybridization and laser‐scanning cytometry for the direct counting of viable Enterobacteriaceae cells in drinking water

A new direct approach, called direct viable count (DVC)‐FISH‐ScanRDI, combining viability measurement, specific detection and sensitive enumeration of highly diluted Enterobacteriaceae cells, was assessed during the summer in water samples from a North American drinking water treatment plant and its distribution system. Major results of this field investigation show a higher sensitivity of the DVC–FISH–ScanRDI approach in enumerating viable Enterobacteriaceae cells in distributed drinking water, relative to a culture‐based method, and the increased concentration of viable but non‐culturable (VBNC) Enterobacteriaceae cells in distributed water for temperatures above 18 °C.