Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality – Guideline Technical Documents: Enteric Protozoa and Enteric Viruses formalized
Two new guideline technical documents for Canadian Drinking Water Quality are now available on Health Canada's website.
Analysis of cyanobacterial metabolites in surface and raw drinking waters reveals more than microcystin
As drinking water professionals we have turned our attention to the latest potential threats including for example microplastics, perfluorinated compounds, and cyanobacterial toxins.
Persistence of fecal contamination and pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 in snow and snowmelt
Hi all…with spring just around the corner, for some of us anyway, an interesting paper entitled “Persistence of fecal contamination and pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 in snow and snowmelt” has recently been published. There has been a substantial amount of research conducted in the area of watershed protection as a key element in the production of safe drinking [...]
National Trends of Bladder Cancer and Trihalomethanes in Drinking Water: A Review and Multicountry Ecological Study
There have been a number of studies which have been unable to link the risk of certain cancers with trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water over the past couple of decades. In a just published review, the authors examined trends in the incidence of bladder cancer in 8 countries in the 45 years since THMs were detected in chlorinated drinking water...
Campylobacteriosis Outbreak Associated with Contaminated Municipal Water Supply — Nebraska, 2017
Lest we forget the lessons the May 2000 Walkerton E. coli/Campylobacter outbreak (in which seven people died, and more than 2,300 became ill) taught us I thought I’d circulate a report of a very similar animal wastewater intrusion into groundwater event that occurred in 2017 leading to a campylobacteriosis outbreak...
Mycobacterium avium in Community and Household Water, Suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 2010-2012
I came across what could be a very important article today which may not attract the attention of drinking water professionals as it has just been published in the CDCs Emerging Infectious Diseases journal which isn’t widely read in our circles. It identifies a relationship between Mycobacterium avium complex in humans and premise plumbing.
Poikilothermic Animals as a Previously Unrecognized Source of Fecal Indicator Bacteria-important new research finding
I learned today what ‘poikilothermic animals’ are (those with body temperatures that vary with the ambient environmental temperature, such as fish, frogs, and snails) and why, as drinking water professionals, we should care.
Persistence of Viruses by qPCR Downstream of Three Effluent-Dominated Rivers in the Western United States
If you are like me you probably wonder why pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) is being suggested by authors of this just published paper as a viral indicator (surrogate) for fecal contamination in water (instead of enteric viruses, adenoviruses or noroviruses).
Identification, toxicity and control of iodinated disinfection byproducts in cooking with simulated chlor(am)inated tap water and iodized table salt
In an effort to avoid chlorinated disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation in distribution systems many drinking water utilities switched from free chlorine to chloramination.
Growth and Extended Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Soil Organic Matter
It is widely assumed that an important waterborne pathogen, Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7, is shed from warm blooded animals and in some instances is transported to a drinking water treatment plant intake/source.