Although studies have revealed that contaminated cattle drinking water is an important vehicle in the persistence and dissemination of E. coli O157:H7 on cattle farms, highly effective,
practical methods to control the pathogen in drinking water have not been not available (19, 25). Estimates indicate that E. coli O157:H7 contaminates as many as 10% of drinking water troughs for cattle (13, 19). We evaluated several practical treatments for efficacy in killing E. coli O157:H7 when drinking water was heavily contaminated with rumen content or feces. These treatments included microbiological and chemical approaches.