Fecal contamination of groundwater is determined by the detectionof bacterial indicators such as total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and enterococci. There is some concern that pathogenic human enteric viruses (HEV) may be present in groundwater in the absence of indicator bacteria because they are smaller and remain infectious longer than the bacteria. The search for a suitable indicator of HEV has focusedfor the most part on the detection of coliphage. While coliphageare similar in size to HEV and have environmental survival characteristics similar to HEV, there are a number of potential limitations to their use as reliable indicators. This study analyzed total coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, E. coli, and enterococci as well as coliphage, Clostridium perfringens, and sterol compounds as potential indicators of fecal contamination and/or directsurface water influence of groundwater. Includes 25 references, tables.