People often associate Escherichia coli with contaminated food, but E. coli has long been a workhorse in biotechnology. Scientists have now demonstrated that the bacterium has further value as part of a system to detect heavy metal contamination in water.People often associate Escherichia coli with contaminated food, but E. coli has long been a workhorse in biotechnology. Scientists have now demonstrated that the bacterium has further value as part of a system to detect heavy metal contamination in water.