Abstract: A process for measuring total microbiological content in an aqueous medium includes adding a fluorescent dye to the aqueous medium, measuring the fluorescent signal in the aqueous medium to obtain a baseline fluorescent signal, releasing intracellular content of the microbiological matter into the aqueous medium by lysing the microbiological matter, measuring the fluorescent signal in the aqueous medium with the released intracellular content of the microbiological matter to obtain a second fluorescent signal, subtracting the baseline signal from the second fluorescent signal to obtain a net fluorescent signal and equating the net fluorescent signal with a microbiological content. Methods for measuring biofilm and adjusting for background noise are also provided.