Transport of Escherichia coli strains isolated from natural spring water

► Laboratory transport experiments is applied to characterize the sticking efficiency of bacteria by a range of values. ► A mathematical formulation is developed to extrapolate bacterial concentration as a function of transport distance. ► Fraction of cells retained as a function of sticking efficiency was best described by a power-law distribution. ► Extrapolation of method to the field indicated that 5 log reduction in bacterial concentration is achievable within 23 m.