Table 3.

Survival of generic and pathogenic E. coli in water.

Species	Water source	Factor/Variable investigated	Measure of decline/survival		References
E. coli O157	Sterilized well water (4 sources)	Survival in Different Waters	2 log decline after 35 days		Geldreich et al., 1992
E. coli O157 #C4195 and #932	Portable groundwater source	5°C	3.5 log reduction after 70 days		Rice et al., 1992
E. coli #R1		20°C	5 log reduction after 35 days
E. coli	Sterile seawater		Rate of die-off under light conditions		Alkan et al., 1995
		Turbidity	Significant effect
		Sewage	Significant effect
		Mixing	Significant effect
		Temperature	Not-significant effect
E. coli K-12 (MC4100)	Filter sterile estuarine water	Organic Matter (Presence/Absence)	Linear regression slopes		Troussellier et al., 1998
		Salinity (Artificial Seawater/Physiological Water) Light (Presence/Absence)	OM+	OM−
			S – L −+0.050	−0.005
			S + L −−0.006	−0.020
			S – L + −0.060	−0.110
			S + L + −0.120	−0.100
E coli O157	Filtered and autoclaved municipal water, in reservoir water, and in water from two recreational lakes	8°C25°C	1–2 log drop after 91 days Detection limit reached 49–84 days		Wang and Doyle, 1998
E. coli O157:H7 (NCTC 12900)	Bottled natural drinking water	Survival in Unsterile mineral water	3 log reduction after 70 days		Kerr et al., 1999
		Sterile mineral water	3.5 log reduction after 70 days
		Sterile distilled water	4.5 log reduction after 70 days
E. coli O157	River water	Survival in river water	Detection limit reached 27 days		Maule, 2000
E. coli O157	Cattle drinking water (2 sources)	Temperature (5 and 15°C) Water source	1 water source—no difference between temperatures		Rice and Johnson, 2000
			2 water source—5°C reached detection limit after 8 days
			15°C reached detection limit after 4 days
E. coli O157 (Environmental)	Cattle water troughs (473)	Water characteristics that encourage survival	Presence/absence 6/473		LeJeune et al., 2001
E. coli O157 #3704 Tn5 lux CDABE	Well water from four different sites	Variation in several factors between sites + the presence of different organism	Number of E. coli O157 present reduced by copper, predation by protozoa and in competition with other microorganisms		Artz and Killham, 2002
E. coli DH5α	Unsterile and sterile groundwater	Influence of microflora	Unsterile T90 2 days		Banning et al., 2002
			Sterile T90 82 days
E. coli O157:H7 (NCTC 12900)	River water—with and without feces Sterile distilled water	Difference between temperature and water sources	River water w/o feces—outside <15°C—detection Limit reached after 14 days		McGee et al., 2002
			− inside 15°C—Detection limit reached after >31 days
			River water w/o Faeces—Outside <15°C—Detection limit reached after 24 days
			Outside <15°C—Detection limit reached after 17 days
			Inside 15°C—2.5 log drop after 31 days
Escherichia coli Famp (ATCC 700891)	Dechlorinated water	10°C	D-Value 7.7 Days		Allwood et al., 2003
		22°C	D-Value 5.7 Days
		37°C	D-Value 3.0 Days
E. coli O157 #3704 Tn5 lux CDABE and E. coli O157 #3704	Sterile artificial groundwater	Difference between the strains at 15°C	Both showed a 5-log drop over 70 days		Ritchie et al., 2003
E. coli O157	Surface water from lakes and rivers	6°C	Detection limit reached 32–51 Days		Czajkowska et al., 2005
		24°C	Detection limit reached 21–32 Days
7 strains of E. coli O157	Untreated well water	10°C	2 strains—1–2 log drop after 56 days		Watterworth et al., 2006
			2 strains—4 log drop after 56 days
			3 strains—detection limit reached <42 days
		22°C	1 strain—6–7 log drop after 56 days
			2 strains—detection limit reached <56 days
			4 strains—detection limit reached <42 Days
E. coli O157 #3704	Non-sterile: lake Fecally contaminated puddle River Drinking trough	Variation in several factors between sites	T99 12.9 days		Avery et al., 2008
			T99 17.8 days
			T99 6.0 days
			T99 6.3 days
E. coli O157:H7	Pond and holding tank water	Difference between water sources	Pond—detection limit reached after 33 days		Suhalim et al., 2008
			Holding tank—detection limit reached after 69 days
6 clinically isolated ETEC strains	Sterile-filtered sea water and freshwater	Induction of VBNC state in water	2 log drop after 12 weeks		Lothigius et al., 2010