Preventing Waterborne Disease: A Focus on EPA's Research

Although the above-listed statistics are alarming, the risk that extensive outbreaks of waterborne cholera will occur in the United States is minimal. Effective treatment of drinking water and sewage, coupled with adequate personal hygiene habits, has contributed to a successful line of defense against the spread of cholera in the U.S. Still, the ease of international travel has guaranteed the import of a wide variety of diseases not generally considered to
be native to North America. Additionally, although fatalities caused by waterborne diseases have declined dramatically in the U.S. during this century, annual reports of water-related, microorganism induced disease continue to number in the thousands. Just one waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis
in western Georgia (1987), for example, affected an estimated 13,000 people. In the “colonias” (poor settlements along the Texas- Mexico border), high levels of
disease have been associated with the lack of public water supplies and
inadequate waste treatment. While the words “typhoid fever” fade from
our vocabulary, such terms as “Giardia,” “Legionella,” and “Norwalk virus” are becoming more familiar.