Safe drinking water is vitally important to health. Both pathogenic and harmless bacteria can be found in the guts of mammals and birds. Testing water for every possible type of pathogenic bacteria is slow and costly. Thus, water is tested for a characteristic type of gut bacteria - the coliforms - including the familiar E.coli. Presence of coliforms is an indicator of fecal contamination. In this experiment your students will test for coliforms in simulated contaminated water using color and fluorescent reagents. They can use these same reagents to test water samples from the environment. As an extension activity, a Gram Stain test can be performed on the collected samples. Kit includes: instructions, ReadyPour Agar, fluorescent reagents, Petri dishes, inoculating loops, sterile swabs, microtubes. You need: long wave UV lamp, microscope, slides and coverslips.