历史上，饮用水微生物学的研究主要集中在细菌的发生上。在分配系统中鼓励真菌增殖的条件（如果它们确实增殖）尚未被调查。本文报道了美国水务协会研究基金会资助的工作结果，以更好地了解分布系统中真菌的重要性。向490家主要供水企业发送了一份调查问卷，以确定已知真菌发生的历史。通过确定12个月期间从两个公用事业公司采集的样本中分离的菌株的数量和特性，评估真菌的季节性发生。还研究了真菌在水系统中的生长和次级代谢产物的产生。还研究了真菌产生气味化合物TCA的过程。最后，探讨了各种处理技术对真菌的去除效果。

Historically, the study of the microbiology of drinking water has focused primarily on the occurrence of bacteria. The conditions which encourage the proliferation of fungi in distribution systems (if indeed they do proliferate) have not been investigated. This paper reports the results of work funded by the American Water Works Association Research Foundation to obtain a better understanding of the significance of fungi found in distribution systems. A questionnaire was sent to 490 major water utilities to establish a history of known occurrences of fungi. The seasonal occurrence of fungi was assessed by determining the quantity and identity of isolates from samples collected from two utilities over a 12-month period. The growth of fungi in water systems and the production of secondary metabolites were also investigated. The production of an odor-causing compound, TCA, by fungi was also studied. Finally, the fungi removal efficiency of various treatment techniques was explored.