Waterborne epidemics in Finland in 1998-1999

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 67-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. T. Miettinen ◽  
O. Zacheus ◽  
C-H. von Bonsdorff ◽  
T. Vartiainen

Fourteen waterborne epidemics occurred in Finland during 1998-1999. About 7,300 illness cases were registered in these outbreaks. All except one of the waterborne epidemics were associated with undisinfected groundwaters. An equal number of waterborne epidemics occurred in public and private water systems, but most cases of illness occurred in public water systems. The three largest epidemics comprised 6,700 illness cases. Insufficient purification treatment unable to remove Norwalk-like viruses caused the only waterborne epidemic in a surface water plant. The main reasons for groundwater outbreaks were floods and surface runoffs which contaminated water. Norwalk-like viruses caused eight and Campylobacter three of the outbreaks. In two cases the epidemic ceased by the exhaustion of susceptible persons in the exposed community but in most cases it was terminated by changing the water source, boiling the drinking water, and starting chlorination.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew John PENDERY

There are some striking similarities between Legionnaire’s disease and COVID-19. Thesymptoms, age group and sex at risk are identical. The geographical distribution of both diseases is similar in Europe overall, and within the USA, France and Italy. The environmental distributions are also similar. However Legionnaire’s disease is caused by Legionella bacteria while COVID-19 is caused by the Corona virus. Whereas COVID-19 is contagious, Legionnaire’s disease is environmental. Legionella bacteria are commonly found in drinking water systems and near air conditioning cooling towers. Legionnaire’sdisease is caught by inhaling contaminated water droplets. The Legionella bacteria does not spread person to person and only causes disease if it enters the lungs.Could the Corona virus be making it easier for Legionella bacteria to enter the lungs?


2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 201-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Messner ◽  
Susan Shaw ◽  
Stig Regli ◽  
Ken Rotert ◽  
Valerie Blank ◽  
...  

In this paper, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presents an approach and a national estimate of drinking water related endemic acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) that uses information from epidemiologic studies. There have been a limited number of epidemiologic studies that have measured waterborne disease occurrence in the United States. For this analysis, we assume that certain unknown incidence of AGI in each public drinking water system is due to drinking water and that a statistical distribution of the different incidence rates for the population served by each system can be estimated to inform a mean national estimate of AGI illness due to drinking water. Data from public water systems suggest that the incidence rate of AGI due to drinking water may vary by several orders of magnitude. In addition, data from epidemiologic studies show AGI incidence due to drinking water ranging from essentially none (or less than the study detection level) to a rate of 0.26 cases per person-year. Considering these two perspectives collectively, and associated uncertainties, EPA has developed an analytical approach and model for generating a national estimate of annual AGI illness due to drinking water. EPA developed a national estimate of waterborne disease to address, in part, the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments. The national estimate uses best available science, but also recognizes gaps in the data to support some of the model assumptions and uncertainties in the estimate. Based on the model presented, EPA estimates a mean incidence of AGI attributable to drinking water of 0.06 cases per year (with a 95% credible interval of 0.02–0.12). The mean estimate represents approximately 8.5% of cases of AGI illness due to all causes among the population served by community water systems. The estimated incidence translates to 16.4 million cases/year among the same population. The estimate illustrates the potential usefulness and challenges of the approach, and provides a focus for discussions of data needs and future study designs. Areas of major uncertainty that currently limit the usefulness of the approach are discussed in the context of the estimate analysis.


2020 ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
L.A. Deryabkina ◽  
◽  
B.I. Marchenko ◽  
N.K. Plugotarenko ◽  
A.I. Yukhno ◽  
...  

In most Russian regions there is still a pressing issue related to providing population with high quality and safe drinking water. Up to now, chlorination has been the primary technique applied to disinfect drinking water as it is highly efficient, reliable, and relatively cheap. However, when chlorine is used to disinfect natural water that contains organic pollutants, it results in risks of by-products occurrence. These products are trihalomethanes, epigenetic carcinogenesis promoters that cause elevated carcinogenic risks under oral, inhalation, and subcutaneous exposure. Our research goal was to hygienically assess efficiency of pre-ammonization applied in water treatment procedures in order to prevent occurrence of carcinogenic organic chlorine compounds during chlorination and to minimize carcinogenic risks. We determined trihalomethanes and residual chlorine contents in model samples of natural water taken from a surface water source after chlorination with different doses of chlorine. We examined 52 pair parallel samples that had undergone pre-ammonization with ammonia sulfate and control ones. Trihalomethanes concentrations were determined in model water samples with gas-liquid chromatography. Basing on the results obtained via experiments on laboratory chlorination of river water, we determined quantitative characteristics and built regression models showing dependence between concentrations of organic chlorine compounds occurring due to chlorination (chloroform, dichlorobrommethane, dibromchloromethane) and chlorine doses and preammonization parameters. It was established that pre-ammonization was the most efficient in terms of preventing trihalomethanes occurrence under such disinfection modes when contents of residual active chlorine didn’t exceed recommended levels (0.8–1.2 mg/L). Basic ways to minimize carcinogenic risks caused by trihalomethanes are systemic control over their contents in drinking water during social and hygienic monitoring procedures; preliminary ammonization of water taken from surface water sources; prevention of unjustified hyper-chlorination; preliminary deep purification of initial water; disinfection with ultrasound radiation instead of preliminary chlorination; etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 277 ◽  
pp. 04004
Author(s):  
Aprilia Harera ◽  
Gita Lestari Putri ◽  
Tim Foster

Drinking water sources derived from groundwater using selfsupply approaches are widely used in Bekasi City because only 26.8% of households are connected to the piped distribution. These self-supplied water systems can be assessed to determine how people choose a better drinking source. Therefore, this study aims to assess the service level attributes of self-supply, including accessibility, availability, and quality. A longitudinal monitoring method by means of a monthly survey to respondents was used to mens perceptions of taste, smell, color, availability, and safety. The results on both household and citywide scale showed boreholes were perceived to deliver a high service level. On the household scale, 93% of boreholes user got ‘high’ score for water service assessment, while dug wells were only 76%. During the 8 months survey, it was shown that 45% of respondents change their main source of drinking water from self-supply to other source for several reasons. Therefore, this study is expected to provide an overview related to the resilience of selfsupply drinking water for a certain period.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1699-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Weisman ◽  
Larry B. Barber ◽  
Jennifer L. Rapp ◽  
Celso M. Ferreira

The relationship between de facto reuse in the Shenandoah River watershed and DBPs in conventional surface water systems in that watershed was examined.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-548
Author(s):  
V. M. Jayasooriya ◽  
V. M. M. Perera ◽  
S. Muthukumaran

Abstract Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) is a fatal disease that causes death from kidney failure due to unknown risk factors and has already affected more than 400,000 people in the rural agricultural landscape (dry zone) of Sri Lanka. The major drinking source in Sri Lanka is groundwater and it is suspected that the pollution of groundwater sources due to agricultural means has a major impact on CKDu. The primary objective of this study is to determine whether rainwater can be used as an alternative safe drinking water source in Girandurukotte area, Sri Lanka, which is known to be an area endemic for CKDu. The physical, chemical, and biological analyses were performed to compare the water quality parameters of three water sources (groundwater, surface water, and rainwater) for Girandurukotte area. The most common storage tanks in polyethylene (PE) and ferrocement (FC) were compared to assess the influence of the material of rainwater tank on water quality. The results showed that there is a significant difference in rainwater in terms of water quality compared to groundwater and surface water. Rainwater in FC and PE tanks showed significant differences (p < 0.05) for some parameters however, they were still within accepted potable drinking water standards.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 577 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Rasul ◽  
M. S. Jahan

An investigation was carried out to assess the water qualities and extents of impurities in groundwater and surface water (Padma river water) in Rajshahi City area. Water samples from a total of 330 tube wells and five spots of the river Padma were analysed for physicochemical, biological and hydrological parameters with standard methods. Among all considered parameters of ground water, concentrations of arsenic, iron, manganese, total hardness, and total coliform and faecal coliform bacteria were found above the permissible limits for potable water. In case of the river Padma, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total coliform, faecal coliform and suspended solids exceeded permissible limits. Both ground and river water must be treated properly before distribution for drinking purpose. Finally, the Padma is recommended as the most sustainable drinking water source for Rajshahi City Corporation area. Keywords: Rajshahi City; Ground water; Surface water; Quality control. © 2010 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v2i3.4093                 J. Sci. Res. 2 (3), 579-586 (2010) 


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 3391-3398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel P. Stokdyk ◽  
Susan K. Spencer ◽  
James F. Walsh ◽  
Jane R. de Lambert ◽  
Aaron D. Firnstahl ◽  
...  

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