Stay in the know on all things drinking water
Dr. William B. Anderson retired on January 1, 2025. He maintains a connection to the Water Science, Technology & Policy Group through an adjunct professorship to guide his remaining graduate students through to their degree completion. He was previously a Research Associate Professor and the Associate Director of the group. He has been active in drinking water quality and treatment research for over 45 years, more recently focusing on contaminant adsorption to microplastics, microplastic removal through chemically assisted filtration, pathogen removal, perfluorinated compounds, cyanobacteria and their toxins, and biological filtration. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA) and the Walkerton Clean Water Centre and currently serves on the OWWA Advocacy Steering Committee and the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association Drinking Water Quality Committee. Please note that Dr. Anderson is no longer accepting graduate students.
The past 15 years, Bill has maintained an email service drawing attention to items of interest to drinking water professionals including, for example, the latest research articles, regulatory updates, outbreak reports, topical issues, and media stories. Bill’s email service has expanded over time to include all interested individuals. These emails are now also archived here in a blog format as they are released, which can be explored by category or simply by scrolling through the posts below.
If you would like to join Bill’s email list for updates straight to your inbox, you can send an email to Bill to be added to the list.
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.
Methods for sampling and detection of microplastics in water and sediment: A critical review
Happy New Year all! There has been a lot of interest in microplastics in water recently and it looks like this will be one this year’s hot research areas. They have the potential to be impactful on human health but a lot of science remains to be done.
Community Water Fluoridation and Urinary Fluoride Concentrations in a National Sample of Pregnant Women in Canada
A study measuring urinary fluoride levels in pregnant women in Canada has just appeared in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The authors conclude that “community water fluoridation is a major source of fluoride exposure for pregnant women living in Canada.”
Prenatal Fluoride Exposure and Cognitive Outcomes in Children at 4 and 6–12 Years of Age in Mexico
Following up from the just-published article “Community Water Fluoridation and Urinary Fluoride Concentrations in a National Sample of Pregnant Women in Canada,” I circulated earlier today; I have located the article that was referenced to support their conclusions pertaining to health risks.