准确测量饮用水中可生物降解有机物（BOM）的含量是一个重要而及时的话题。研究表明，BOM的浓度是促进分销系统中细菌生长的主要因素之一。当然，为了符合法规，特别是《安全饮用水法案》的新规定，控制配水增长至关重要。此外，必须限制生长，以避免其他由细菌引起的问题，如味道、气味、水力能力下降和加速管道腐蚀。虽然已经开发了许多测试来测量饮用水供应中的BOM量，但这些测试通常表明类似水样的BOM量非常不同。 因此，水务公司面临着这样一个两难境地:哪种测试（如果有的话）能够准确地显示BOM的真实数量。此外，许多此类检测很难进行，可能需要长达30天的潜伏期。本研究的最终目标是帮助BOM测试朝着更准确、快速和易于执行的方向发展。如果测试对供水设施有用，则必须满足所有这些标准。只有通过加深对BOM测试中涉及的基本动力学原理的理解，才能获得改进测试的进展，这是本建模研究的具体目标。建模中的一个重要发现是，如果不估计BOM的降解动力学，BOM测试结果就无法与BOM的真实数量相关联。 因此，以前公认的可生物降解溶解有机碳（BDOC）或可同化有机碳（AOC）是真实BOM的近似值的观点似乎已经过时。此外，改变接种密度可能会影响BDOC测试的结果。对难降解基质使用低密度接种物可能严重低估样品中的BOM量。

Accurately measuring the amount of biodegradable organic matter (BOM) in drinking water supplies is an important and timely topic. Studies have shown that the concentration of BOM is one of the major factors that promotes bacterial growth in distribution systems. Of course, it is essential to control distribution growth to meet regulations, especially the new rules ensuing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Also, growth must be limited to avoid other bacterial induced problems, such as tastes, odors, decreased hydraulic capacity, and accelerated pipe corrosion. Although many tests have been developed to measure the amount of BOM in drinking water supplies, these tests often indicate a very different amount of BOM for similar water samples. Thus, water utilities are faced with the dilemma of which tests, if any, give an accurate indication of the true amount of BOM. Furthermore, many of these tests are difficult to perform and can require incubation periods of up to 30 days. The ultimate goal of this research is to help BOM testing advance toward a more accurate, rapid, and easy-to-perform test. All of these criteria must be met if a test is to be useful to water utilities. Advancements toward an improved test can only be obtained through an increased understanding of the fundamental kinetic principles involved in BOM testing, which is the specific objective of this modeling research. One important discovery from the modeling is that BOM test results cannot be related to the true amount of BOM without an estimate of the degradation kinetics of the BOM. As a result, the previously accepted idea that the biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) or assimilable organic carbon (AOC) is an approximation of the true BOM appears obsolete. Also, varying the inoculum density can influence the results of BDOC tests. Using a low density inoculum for a hard-to-degrade substrate can seriously underestimate the amount of BOM in a sample.