Waterborne Disease Outbreaks and the Multi-barrier Approach to Protecting Drinking Water

2014 ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed H. Dore
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Waterborne Disease

scholarly journals Common themes contributing to recent drinking water disease outbreaks in affluent nations

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1767-1777 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Hrudey ◽  
E. J. Hrudey
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
George Santayana ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Outbreak

Abstract New Zealand experienced its largest waterborne disease outbreak in modern history in August 2016 with 5,500 cases and four fatalities. This recent outbreak is one of 24 drinking-waterborne disease outbreaks in affluent nations that have been reported in the scientific literature since the infamous Walkerton, Ontario, Canada fatal outbreak (2,300 cases, seven fatalities) in May 2000. These disasters were all eminently preventable given the economic and intellectual resources existing in the countries where they occurred. These outbreaks are analysed according to major recurring themes, including: complacency, naiveté and ignorance, failure to learn from experience and chemophobia. Lessons that can be learned to improve preventive approaches for ensuring safe drinking water are based on an extensive and authentic body of evidence in support of meaningful improvements. Philosopher George Santayana captured this need with his famous quote: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’

scholarly journals Waterborne disease outbreak detection: an integrated approach using health administrative databases

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Coly ◽  
N. Vincent ◽  
E. Vaissiere ◽  
M. Charras-Garrido ◽  
A. Gallay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Detection Method ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Outbreak Detection ◽  
Administrative Databases ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
Disease Outbreak Detection

Hundreds of waterborne disease outbreaks (WBDO) of acute gastroenteritis (AGI) due to contaminated tap water are reported in developed countries each year. Such outbreaks are probably under-detected. The aim of our study was to develop an integrated approach to detect and study clusters of AGI in geographical areas with homogeneous exposure to drinking water. Data for the number of AGI cases are available at the municipality level while exposure to tap water depends on drinking water networks (DWN). These two geographical units do not systematically overlap. This study proposed to develop an algorithm which would match the most relevant grouping of municipalities with a specific DWN, in order that tap water exposure can be taken into account when investigating future disease outbreaks. A space-time detection method was applied to the grouping of municipalities. Seven hundred and fourteen new geographical areas (groupings of municipalities) were obtained compared with the 1,310 municipalities and the 1,706 DWN. Eleven potential WBDO were identified in these groupings of municipalities. For ten of them, additional environmental investigations identified at least one event that could have caused microbiological contamination of DWN in the days previous to the occurrence of a reported WBDO.

scholarly journals Drinking-water safety – challenges for community-managed systems

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rizak ◽  
Steve E. Hrudey
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Water System ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Weather Events

A targeted review of documented waterborne disease outbreaks over the past decades reveals some recurring themes that should be understood by drinking-water suppliers. Evidence indicates the outbreaks are often linked to some significant change in conditions that provides a sudden challenge to a water system. Severe weather events, such as heavy rainfall or runoff from snow melt, as well as treatment process and system changes, are common risk factors for drinking-water outbreaks. Failure to recognise warning signs and complacency are important contributors to drinking water becoming unsafe. Drinking-water suppliers must focus on competence and vigilance in maintaining effective multiple barriers appropriate to the challenges facing the drinking-water system. Understanding the risk factors and failure modes of waterborne disease outbreaks is an essential component for effective management of community drinking-water supplies and ensuring the delivery of safe drinking-water to consumers.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Waterborne Disease Outbreaks Associated with Small Non-Community Drinking Water Systems in Canada and the United States

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0141646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Pons ◽  
Ian Young ◽  
Jenifer Truong ◽  
Andria Jones-Bitton ◽  
Scott McEwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
Drinking Water Systems

scholarly journals Surveillance for Waterborne Disease Outbreaks Associated with Drinking Water — United States, 2011–2012

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (31) ◽  
pp. 842-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlyn D. Beer ◽  
Julia W. Gargano ◽  
Virginia A. Roberts ◽  
Vincent R. Hill ◽  
Laurel E. Garrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Waterborne Disease

Evaluation of Risk Assessment Tools to Predict Canadian Waterborne Disease Outbreaks

2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ian Michael Summerscales ◽  
Edward A. McBean
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Water Quality Monitoring ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
Drinking Water Contamination ◽  
Risk Assessment Tools

Abstract A number of risk assessment tools and guidance documents have been developed by regulatory and nongovernmental bodies to enable risk assessment of drinking water systems. To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of available risk assessment tools, three of the existing risk assessment tools were applied to waterborne disease outbreaks in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and Walkerton, Ontario, to determine whether the risk assessment tools would have indicated that the water systems were at risk of failure. Both of these outbreaks are sufficiently well documented to allow testing of the risk assessment tools. Both of the outbreaks occurred partly due to vulnerabilities that prevented the respective water systems from having effective multiple barriers to drinking water contamination. The risk assessment tools generally identified the hazards that resulted in contamination of the source water. However, the different tools had different levels of success in identifying vulnerabilities in the downstream barriers such as treatment processes and water quality monitoring activities. None of the risk assessment tools successfully incorporated the interdependent nature of the multiple barriers of drinking water safety.

Achieving safe drinking water — risk management based on experience and reality

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (NA) ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Rizak ◽  
Steve E. Hrudey
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Water Quality Monitoring ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Developed World

Over recent years there have been a number of high profile water quality incidents in the developed world that have drawn attention to the safety of our drinking water supplies and how we are managing our systems. An analysis of these and other waterborne disease outbreaks reveals some important themes about the underlying causes of outbreak failures and some broader issues about the role of drinking water quality monitoring for the protection of public health. Experience has shown that waterborne disease outbreaks in affluent countries almost universally demonstrate that the outbreaks were eminently preventable and, in most circumstances, the solutions for assuring safety from the risks of drinking water are not complex and rely not so much on implementing stringent water quality standards, as on improved system management and operation. Given these themes, assuring drinking water safety requires a commitment to a comprehensive approach to risk management, one that focuses on prevention and better measures of control extending from catchment and source protection through to the consumer. There is a growing international consensus moving towards this strategy for assuring safe drinking water, which provides the prospects of making water even more safe than it currently is most places in the developed world.

scholarly journals Surveillance for Waterborne Disease Outbreaks Associated with Drinking Water — United States, 2013–2014

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (44) ◽  
pp. 1216-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine M. Benedict ◽  
Hannah Reses ◽  
Marissa Vigar ◽  
David M. Roth ◽  
Virginia A. Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Waterborne Disease
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document