许多化学和微生物过程发生在影响饮用水质量的配水系统管道内。一些饮用水设施无法满足客户水龙头的新水质要求，因为管道壁上附着的生物膜中的微生物生长会导致配水系统内的水质发生变化。虽然饮用水对微生物来说是一个营养贫乏的环境，但有足够的营养支持微生物生长；碳通常是限制性基质。单靠消毒已被证明无法消除饮用水生物膜中的微生物生长。由于一旦水进入配水系统，公用事业公司几乎无法控制水质，人们的注意力集中在尽量减少饮用水生物膜增长的方法上。许多研究试图将生物膜生长和生物稳定性和饮用水中可生物降解有机物（BOM）的总体测量联系起来。 目前的BOM测量技术包括可同化有机碳（AOC）和可生物降解溶解有机碳（BDOC）。本研究通过调查饮用水生物膜微生物对饮用水中常见的主要化合物组的生长反应，将这些测量技术向前推进了一步:氨基酸；碳水化合物；还有腐殖物质。本文以腐殖酸为主要碳源，对饮用水生物膜进行了研究。

Many chemical and microbiological processes occur within water distribution system pipelines that affect the quality of drinking water. Some drinking water utilities cannot meet new water quality requirements at the customer's tap because of changes in water quality that occur within distribution systems as a result of microbial growth in a biofilm attached to pipe walls. Although drinking water is an oligotrophic environment for microorganisms, there are sufficient nutrients to support microbial growth; carbon is typically the limiting substrate. Disinfection alone has been shown to be incapable of eliminating microbial growth in drinking water biofilms. Since a utility has little control over water quality once the water enters the distribution system, attention has focused on methods to minimize growth in drinking water biofilms. Much research has attempted to relate biofilm growth and biological stability to overall measurements of the biodegradable organic matter (BOM) in drinking water. Current measurement techniques for BOM include assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC). This research takes these measurement techniques one step further by investigating the growth response of drinking water biofilm microorganisms to the major groups of compounds typically found in drinking water BOM: amino acids; carbohydrates; and, humic substances. The paper focuses on research using humic substances as the primary carbon source for drinking water biofilms.