Alternative methods for microbiological monitoring offer enormous advantages over the conventional plate test. So far, however, none of the alternative methods for has been validated pharmaceutical water. In this lecture, we will show you all the procedures and procedures for a successful validation. After successful validation, alternative methods can be used not only for in-process control, but also for quality control. This makes fully automatic quality control possible for the first time without any manual processes. This can speed up approval processes and sustainably improve the quality of pharmaceutical water.