Preliminary work was carried out f o r the development of a rapid method for the detection and enumeration of enterococcal phages in natural water. Eight enterococcal phages were isolated after amplification from water obtained from 2 local ponds. These were plaque-purified and used to test the phage susceptibility of 34 strains of enterococci isolated from pristine and polluted waters. Eight strains with the widest phage susceptibility were used as hosts in a double agar layer (DAL) and a single agar layer (SAL) assay for phage enumeration without pre-assay amplification. N o phages were obtained with the DAL method with all 8 hosts. Usingthe SALmethod, 2 phages were obtained with 1 of the 2 hosts used. Phage isolation was not improved by incubation at 44.5°C. For rapid quantitative testing, the sensitivity of the assays has to be increased to enable phage isolation without the need for prior amplification. KEYWORDS: Enterococci, phage, enumeration