Patent ID: 7419797

Claim:
A method for determining the presence of coliform bacteria in a drinking water sample comprising the steps of: a) separating said bacteria from said drinking water sample using a first filter means; b) transferring said bacteria from said first filter means to a broth comprising nutrients for supporting growth of said bacteria and an inducing agent for inducing enzyme production in said bacteria and culturing said bacteria in said broth; c) separating said bacteria from said broth using a second filter means; d) exposing said bacteria to a lysing agent; e) incubating a chemiluminogenic substrate of said enzyme with said enzyme to cause cleavage of said substrate, thereby producing a luminescent product; f) initiating light emission by exposing said luminescent product to an enhancing agent that excludes water from a cleavage site of said substrate to prevent quenching of said light emission by water molecule induced protonation; and, g) detecting said light emission to thereby determine the presence of said bacteria in said sample.