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.
Cyanotoxins and Cyanobacteria Cell Accumulations in Drinking Water Treatment Plants with a Low Risk of Bloom Formation at the Source
A study looking at the extent of cyanobacterial cell accumulation and presence of five cyanotoxins across the treatment trains of four drinking water treatment plants in the Great Lakes region...
How to Identify and Locate Lead-Free Certification Marks for Drinking Water System and Plumbing Materials
When discussing proposed lead in drinking water guidelines recently, the topic of lead in point-of use devices/plumbing materials and NSF 372 came up.
Public Consultation: Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality – Guideline Technical Document on 1,4-Dioxane
The deadlines for providing comments to Health Canada on their ‘Guidance document on the use of quantitative microbial risk assessment in drinking water’ and ‘Proposed guideline technical document on copper in drinking water’ documents have expired but a ‘Proposed guideline technical document on strontium in drinking water’ is now available for public comment ...
Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality – Guideline Technical Document: Cyanobacterial Toxins
The ‘Guideline Technical Document: Cyanobacterial Toxins’ is now available on Health Canada's web site.
Low risk posed by engineered and incidental nanoparticles in drinking water
A just published review article on the risk of engineered and incidental nanoparticles in drinking water concludes risks to human health are low.
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.