The UK River Summit & Proteus Instruments present ‘real-time E. coli data’
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We’re excited to launch our collaborative E. coli monitoring project. In partnership with The UK River Summit & Festival, we’re installing a real-time water quality monitor—making live E. coli data publicly accessible in the UK for the first time.
The Proteus sonde was installed at the confluence between the Jubilee River and the Thames.
UK River Summit 2025 on July 8th at Morden Hall on the River Wandle
Tickets are only available in advance and are £45 which includes a fresh, seasonal lunch by Abel and Cole, a beer from Lakedown Brewing Company, a gift from partners YETI and access to all the days events and workshops.
Total coliforms, Faecal coliforms and E. Coli – What’s the difference?
In the context of water quality, Total Coliforms (TCs) are all the coliforms found in the soil, waters and in mammal waste.
Within the TC group, Faecal Coliforms (FCs) are a subset classified by their presence in the gut and faeces of warm-blooded mammals; therefore, seen as a general indicator of faecal pollution in water.
Sometime FCs are used interchangeably with Thermotolerant Coliforms (TTCs), a term used to classify bacteria that can tolerate temperatures above 44 °C. Previously it was thought that the higher temperature tolerance eradicated non-faecal bacteria however this is no longer the case meaning TTCs are not necessarily only faecal in origin and the term is less popular.
E. coli are a species of bacteria that are found in the FC group, set apart from other bacterial species in the group by the fact they are the only species that generally cannot originate naturally in the environment and therefore must have a faecal origin. As such, E. coli are a strong faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) for detecting faecal contamination.
