1986年对《安全饮用水法》的修正案要求美国环保局监管大肠菌群总数。尽管修订时存在大肠菌群总量标准，但美国环保局重新审查了该标准，并于1987年11月3日提出了一项新规则。这项提议的规则是有争议的，因为它是基于总大肠菌群的存在或不存在，而不是基于细菌密度，还因为它需要从小型系统中获得更多的样本。“在场-缺席”方法需要一种全新的方法来监控和遵守规定。考虑了其他监管选项，最终规则于1989年6月29日公布。本文总结了新的总大肠菌群规则的要求。包括7个参考文献、表格和图表。

The 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act require the USEPA to regulate total coliform bacteria. Although a standard for total coliforms existed at the time of the amendments, USEPA re-examined the standard and proposed a new rule on November 3, 1987. The proposed rule was controversial because it was based on the presence or absence of total coliform bacteria rather than on bacterial density and because it would have required many more samples from small systems. The presenceabsence methodology necessitated a completely new approach to monitoring and compliance provisions. Additional regulatory options were considered, and the final rule was published June 29, 1989. This article summarizes the requirements of the new Total Coliform Rule. Includes 7 references, tables, figure.