While bacteria, coliforms, enterococci and E. coli, have been the historical indicator organisms for fecal pollution in water, viruses have been the predominant cause of waterborne illnesses. Coliphage are viral structures with similarity to pathogenic enteric viruses, and therefore are better risk indicators than their bacterial counterparts.

With its fast results, Fast Phage enables rapid remediation of fecal risks in water supplies. Fast Phage variations include Presence/Absence (P/A), Most Probable Number (MPN), and Continuous Monitoring Tests. Applications include source, distribution and process water monitoring.

Fast Phage MPN provides rapid 6-hour quantitatition of somatic coliphage that is useful as a fecal pollution index. Charm offers two version of the Fast Phage MPN test. One for volumes up to 4 ml that uses a TEMPO^® MPN card and one for volumes up to 100 ml that can use a variety of MPN techniques such as 10 tube or Quanti-Tray^®. Both Fast Phage MPN methods give same day results. Results are comparable to overnight plaque determination such as Method 1602.