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.
Microbial Diversity and Putative Opportunistic Pathogens in Dishwasher Biofilm Communities
In my quest to find new and interesting topics in drinking water research this is the first study I’ve come across on dishwashers. No municipality that I’m aware of is responsible for appliances connected to distributed networks.
Biodegradable organic matter and rapid-rate biofilter performance: A review
For those of you dealing with biological filtration for drinking water treatment, a paper entitled “Biodegradable organic matter and rapid-rate biofilter performance: A review” has just been published in the journal Water Research.
Assessment of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint, Michigan
I occasionally come across papers that address the potential importance of fungi in drinking water. Many report that that fungi are surviving through treatment...
Temporal trends in Giardia occurrence in the Grand River and surrounding tributaries, Waterloo, Ontario (2005–2013)
The Grand River and its tributaries in southern Ontario have been, and continue to be, very intensely studied. The latest published paper describes temporal trends in Giardia oocyst occurrence.
Occurrence of Human Norovirus GII and Human Enterovirus in Ontario Source Waters
We’re now well aware that impacted watersheds used for drinking water can have high occurrence frequencies of protozoan pathogen (oo)cysts such as those of Giardia and Cryptosporidium. This includes the Grand River in southern Ontario where frequencies can approach 100%.
Fungal Contaminants in Drinking Water Regulation? A Tale of Ecology, Exposure, Purification and Clinical Relevance
I occasionally come across papers that address the potential importance of fungi in drinking water. Many report that that fungi are surviving through treatment...