a high throughput are rapidly providing new information that
are shifting existing paradigms regarding pathogen growth in
water (19, 34, 35). Such data combined with mathematical
modeling could be used in the future to estimate the actual
degree of pathogen growth in a given water sample and to
investigate potential risk scenarios of interest in silico.
Conclusions. A novel bioassay was developed to investigate
the potential of any water sample to support growth of pathogenic
microorganisms. The data from this study showed unique
growth behavior of the different pathogens in each water sample,
relative to each sample and to each other. Furthermore,
AOC concentrations could explain their net growth only to
some extent, indicating that the quality/composition of AOC is
critical for pathogen growth. The developed pathogen growth
potential (PGP) assay can be used as a screening tool complementary
to conventional AOC assays in order to compare
different water samples or treatment steps. The results of the
PGP assay can also be incorporated into a multilevel concept
assessing the risk of pathogen growth in water.