A system for measuring total microbiological content in an aqueous medium by 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. The system then measures the fluorescent signal in the aqueous medium with the released intracellular content of the microbiological matter to obtain a second fluorescent signal. Next, the system subtracts the baseline signal from the second fluorescent signal to obtain a net fluorescent signal and equates the net fluorescent signal with a microbiological content.