Intakes for drinking water are not sufficiently shielded. Sewage spillages as the result of flooding or ruptures in ageing pipe networks present a serious challenge to water purification plants.
And climate change is not helping any. For example, in the summer of 2004, 1,450 people reported being ill in a resort community in northern Ohio with campylobacter, norovirus, giardia and salmonella. That summer was marked by rainfall that was 150 percent above the 50-year average.
Joan Rose, Michigan State University ’s Nowlin Chair in water research, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting Friday. Her talk, “Drinking Water and Health: Forecasting Pathogen Risks in the Great Lakes,” focused on ways to identify health threats before an outbreak.
Read more in the Water Online article
