Colitag, The First Definitive Water Test System for bacteria and E. Coli

Colitag was approved through US EPA’s extensive ATP testing program, which all methods used for drinking water coliform testing must participate. Colitag was found to have both an E. coli and coliform false negative rate of 0.0% and a total coliform false-positive rate of 5.0%. These results were derived by EPA microbiologists using the ATP data review protocol and communicated to CPI through an official letter notification and publication in the March 2002 Federal Register (page 10538, Vol. 67 No. 45). In comparison, Colilert® was reported to have a 9% false-negative rate for E. coli and a 13% false-positive rate for total coliforms during the EPA approval process. These results are documented in the July 17, 1989 Federal Register (page 29998, paragraph II.B, third column) and in the June 10, 1992 Federal Register (page 24745, first full paragraph in the first column), and are available on Idexx’s website. When the US EPA approved Colitag, they published that the data from EPA's ATP protocol testing showed Colitag compared favorably with other approved Standard Methods.