Drinking Water Security

Sydney Belly
“Sydney Belly”, gastrointestinal illness and diarrhoea is probably as old as Sydney. As long as water and feces are being mashed up the winners are the pathogens. At the moment care facilities for the young and old are being hit by a norovirus (stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting) again.

Crypto in the drinking water
Bugs (“low levels of cryptosporidium”) found in Sydney's water supply it was reported yesterday are “not posing any threat to the city's drinking water supply“. A boggling check at Sydney Drinking Water Quality report claims that there are NO Cryptosporidium and Giardia found in the crystal clear water. Going a few days back, this seems to have been the case too.

Cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidium is a parasite resistant to most disinfectants. It is “ spread through feces of infected hosts and causes sometimes severe diarrhea in humans and animals.” Once it gets into the body via water, food or unhygienic practices, the symptoms are usually gastrointestinal illness, diarrhoea and sometimes vomiting. "...It is the most common non-viral cause of diarrhoea worldwide... People can literally die of diarrhoea: they can lose over 13 litres of fluid a day.“

Some Crypto cases: Rapidly growing populations outstrip infrastructure
Galway, the fastest growing city in Ireland is the prototype “where rapid expansion of housing developments has not been matched by infrastructure upgrades...236 laboratory confirmed cases of Cryptosporidium infection had been identified, with at least 40 resulting in hospitalisation...sewage is the major source of contamination.” Many in the tourist industry have “installed their own water filtration systems to reassure guests.”

The cause of the Milwaukee Cryptosporidium epidemic in 1993 was "found to be sewage that passed through the filtration system of one of the city's drinking water plants.” “ 400,000 people became infected and 60 people" (or 100) "died as a result of drinking infected water”.

The 1998 Sydney Water Crisis requiring 3 million residents to 'boil water ' was memorable for residents and visitors. Two small bugs, Cryptosporidium and Giardia led to changes in Sydney Water Corporation. Years on in 2007 the two pathogens are still causing “severe gastrointestinal illness”. In SA too there were “ 228 cases of cryptosporidiosis this year, compared to 52 for the same period last year.” Sewage and water mix in Australia, South Africa and many other places.How many is ok?
In Milwaukee there are no more than one Cryptosporidium oocyst per 10 litres allowed. It is “now a criminal offence in the UK to supply drinking-water that has more than one Cryptosporidium oocyst per 10 litres”. The 1998 Sydney incident "has shown no evidence of any illness that could be attributed to drinking water contamination. Accordingly, law suits claiming for illness among consumers have recently been withdrawn from Australia's high court.“

Wait- there is more than Crypto and Giardia
There are other pathogens, but there are chemicals that could have very adverse health effects on humans and animals. “Disinfection by-products (DBPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals, antibiotics, polymers and pesticides”. The question is no longer in a risk-society to aim for not having any harmful substances in the drinking water, but the “Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) ..which can be ingested for an entire lifetime (70 years) without appreciable health risk” Health and the possible cancer are a matter for probability/statistics. (Micropollutants, pdf)

“Balancing burgeoning public needs for safe drinking water with dwindling supplies will be a major challenge for public works managers and regulators in the years to come.”

Previous:
More on Sydney Water, Health and Pollution
Drinking water security and sewage
Reducing Risks when eating out

Reading:
The Sydney Water Crisis, Another Lesson in Health Risk Communication Failure, Dr. Steve E.Hrudey (Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the Department of Public Health Sciences)
Organic Micropollutants in Water, pdf (www.waterquality.crc.org.au)
Galway Cryptosporidium Outbreak, Health Stream Article - Issue 46 - June 2007
Critical processes affecting Cryptosporidium oocyst survival in the environment, King, B.J. and Monis, P.T. (2007) Parasitology, 134 (Pt 3); 309-23.Health Stream Literature Summary - Issue 46 - June 2007
Waterquality, CRC, au
"Cryptosporidium"- tag, ABC

Image: Water sculpture for gathering clouds by Eora

Antarctic Seals on Sydney Beaches - “ The anatomy of a sea lion is not too dissimilar to the human anatomy”

Pack-ice animals in Sydney?
The arrival of seven 'debilitated' sub-Antarctic Leopard Seals on the coast of NSW is unprecedented. Two Leopard Seals, malnourished, injured and near death, were washed on to Sydney's beaches (Wattamolla, Clovelly Beach) recently. Scientists are 'baffled' about the “seven animals in the last two months” which are out of their habitat. Living on Antarctic ice shelves normally they are 'out of place'. ”If they get this far north, they are very sick.” said a NPWS wildlife management officer.
The Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) inhabits Antarctic pack ice as most of the time as a top predator catching Penguins, Squid and Krill. Antarctic Krill makes up 45 % of its diet, for which the species has specially adapted teeth.

Inhospitable coasts – nowhere to rest
Seals in distress, being marine and terrestial are in need of rest. On a densely populated coast, 'real estate' for seals only remains in name as 'Seal Rocks'. Authorities implore the public to allow animals to rest ("hauling-out") on the foreshore and not allow their dogs to savage and harass them. A fur seal also had to be disentangled out of a shark net recently. 'Fishing gear and plastic litter' are the other human-made hindrances for these marine mammals.

Krill- the stuff that feeds most
Krill are the keystone species of the food web for many, such as Leopard Seals, whales, penguins, squid and fish. The bioluminescent Antarctic Krill grazes on drifting algae and small zooplakton. “ Most krill species display large daily vertical migrations, thus feeding predators near the surface at night and in deeper waters during the day.” Like a lawnmower, they also “scrape the green lawn of ice -algae from the underside of the pack ice.”

Human induced changes on the planet:
Human activities heating up the planet, deprive the inhabitants of these extreme cold regions, of their habitat. The melting ice and associated higher temperatures are a threat to the fauna.

• The increased temperatures disrupt the food chain, Krill swarms recede and Salps (Salpa thompsoni) explode.
• Human beings 'harvest' massive amounts of Krill by vacuuming them with high tech to deliver as feed in industrial fish farms,add to medical and cosmetic products.
• Seals and Penguins lose out in the competition for Krill. Food supplies are disrupted.
• Dumping waste (eutrophication fertilizers/toxins) into the world's warmed water bodies nourishes pathogens for all living beings.
• Growing tourism is straining the environment.

Effects of a changed globe:
The 'Death March of the Penguins' in the Antarctic continues, numbers are dwindling. “As cracks, gaps and relocated chunks appear, it becomes harder and harder for penguins to forage under the ice for Krill or make their way quickly to the water.“ Landlocked animals cannot reproduce. Where penguins interface with human dwellers (Tasmanian coast) and their pets, the outcomes are predictable: “Dogs are capable of killing a penguin just by closing their jaws on the penguin's skull… A few years ago, 50 to 60 penguins were killed by dogs in one night."

At the Earth's northern region: the Arctic
Seals are running out of ice lairs for their pups, both polar bears and indigenous hunters will get to feel their absence as a direct effect of the warming.

With the disappearance of the sea ice, walruses are out of solid ground. ”Pinnipeds are carnivorous aquatic mammals that use flippers for movement on land and in the water. All pinnipeds must come ashore to breed, give birth and nurse their young. That platform has been shrinking.”

'Skinny' Grey Whales - warmer temperatures and vanishing sea ice are forcing them to find non-customary food sources.” But switching food could expose them to parasites that contribute to their emaciated condition”

“Bering Sea wildlife species are threatened by an array of complex problems, including commercial fishing, global climate change and pollution ”. 12 % of all vertebrates are at risk.

Homeless beings, out of food and rest get sick
Malnourished seals, whales and penguins, struggling to reproduce also have to live in water bodies saturated with pathogens and toxins. A weakened immune system is more susceptible to pathogens.

The case of toxic algae and bacteria pandemic killing seals
There has been “... a steady upswing in beach strandings and mass die-offs of whales, dolphins and other ocean mammals on U.S. Coasts...More than 14,000 seals, sea lions and dolphins have landed sick or dead along the California shoreline in the last decade. So have more than 650 gray whales along the West Coast. ” It was found that seals had ingested toxic algae bloom accumulated in anchovies and sardines. “ The surge in mortality has coincided with what Florida wildlife pathologist Greg Bossart calls a "pandemic" of algae and bacteria...” Fuelled by human waste and other nutrients of coastal areas the 'bad bugs' explode. “Toxic algae thrive on the same elements that turn lawns green and make crops grow — nitrogen, phosphorus and iron”

One bug, Pseudo-nitzschia, covering '155 square miles of coastal waters produces' a potent neurotoxin. Anchovies and sardines eat the red tide organisms unharmed, but if they in turn get eaten by seals, they get the accumulated toxic dose. The domoic poisoning disorients the animals and they lose orientation. “Some swam hundreds of miles out to sea and were never seen again, bizarre behavior for creatures that spend their lives in coastal waters.” Usually, they are emaciated , disoriented, suffer seizures, and finally the hippocampus becomes severely atrophied. One is reminded, that “ The anatomy of a sea lion is not too dissimilar to the human anatomy.”

The displacement of the inhabitants of the Antarctic and Arctic might be a sign that the Earth is being turned into a hot and in-hospitable place for all, a primordial atmosphere.

Questions:

• Could it be that disoriented, malnourished and injured seals at our 'doorstep' are a sign of the large mammal decline that is principally anthropogenic?
• Are our actions robbing them of a habitat, food and a place to rest ?
• Is our effluent and waste making the ocean unfit for life?
• Who is monitoring the coincidences of HAB tides and marine mammal stranding in Australia?
• Is out own food security compromised?

Previous:
On the Use of Water - Or the Creation of Dead Zones
Drinking Water & Healthy Water Bodies Pt II
Drinking water security, sewage and emerging bugs III

Links:
- Altered Oceans, Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis (Toxic algae that poison the brain have caused stranding and mass die-offs of marine mammals — barometers of the sea's health.)
- Penny Chisholm, Video: The Invisible Forest: Microbes in the Sea
- Earth Observatory, NASA

Drinking water security, sewage and emerging bugs III

Growing population centres and the inefficient use of water is “the greatest threat to waterways”. Mega cities, such as L.A., are “growing too fast for its water resources”.

With the advent of agriculture, and its associated urbanisation people exchanged their produce as well as “parasites and infectious diseases.” (J.Diamond) Dense aggregation of people, changed water and land scapes aiding disease transmission. Road construction projects are the 'highways for diarrhea' as such.” When fecal-oral pathogens meet human poverty and dislocation, diarrheal diseases are a predictable outcome.”

Today sewage infrastructure in Australia has not kept pace with the rapid sprawl on the dryest continent. Demand for drinking water outstrips supply. “If we keep taking more water, we're going to be looking at increased salinity, toxic algal blooms, fish kills” some warn. Add to the algal blooms suburban sewage and one has fuelled the growth of microbial harmful agents. The security of drinking water and the health of the (coastal) population could be compromised.

Urban health, a main achievement of civilisation, was only made possible through modern sewage and water treatment systems. Back in the mid 19th century an amateur scientist found the connection between contaminated drinking water and sewage bacteria in Europe. The cholera (Vibrio cholerea ) epidemic was transmitted to humans by water. “...An outbreak of the disease is evidence that people have been drinking each other’s feces. Much of modern civilization has been geared toward making sure that this doesn’t happen.” The 1854 epidemic of London was “killing more than ten percent of the population there in a matter of eight days”. Many of the people who lost their lives were well known.The source of the contaminated drinking water was traced to a street pump. The disease thriller The Ghost Map tells us of the mash up. “In many ways, the story...is all about the triumph of a certain kind of urbanism in the face of great adversity, the power of dense cities to create solutions to problems that they themselves have brought about“ (video)

In some developing countries today, such as in China “...more than half the country's population of 1.3 billion people, including 278 cities, live without any form of sewage treatment.” Access to uncontaminated drinking water, in developing and OECD countries might not be guaranteed in the 21 century. Ailing or non-existent sewage infrastructure might compromise the health of the global mega city. Here are some random recent examples:

• At Evans Head “ the outfall near the northern New South Wales town's surfing beaches will pump treated effluent into the sea all year-round, 24-hours-a-day.“
• At Glenelg sewage treatment plant, “the water ..currently goes out to sea”
• “It's alleged 50 000 litres of untreated sewage and trade waste spilled into the rivulet at south Hobart in June last year “

• “...after a sewer main ruptured and spilled untreated effluent into the river system at Culburra, east of Nowra."
• “ More than a million litres of effluent” was detected in Mount Isa creek in north-west Queensland
• Raw sewage was spilled into the Crookhaven River on New South Wales' south coast, Oysterfarm got covered in sludge.
• “ Caloundra City Council has worked through the weekend to repair a sewer pipe that burst during torrential rains on Thursday, releasing raw sewage into the Pumicestone Passage.“
• It is alleged that faulty wastewater drains in England caused the recent foot-and-mouth epidemic.

In the small, historic bay settlement of Apulia (Italy) they just had a resurgence of waterborne disease.“ The outbreak of viral gastroenteritis (norovirus)... is probably the largest one associated with drinking tap water in Italy.“

At the moment " We are seeing a wave of multiple outbreaks that is already spreading across Australia....Noroviruses have accounted for a five-fold increase in infectious gastroenteritis cases in recent years.” The virulent strain norovirus 2006b occurs especially in places where people aggregate densely. (Nursing homes, hospitals and child-care centres and cruise liners.) ” Transmission of caliciviruses is generally by the fecal-oral route, but they can also be transmitted via the respiratory route.”

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is now a global phenomena. Other water bugs, such as cholera, typhoid etc can spread under unsanitary conditions to infect water. The diarrhea enters the drinking water via the ground water supply. V. cholerae, lives in water bodies on plankton...”Coastal cholera outbreaks typically follow zooplankton blooms.” Eutrophication fuels the thick carpets floating on the world oceans, a rich nutrient culture for (re-)emergent microbial diseases.

Matching infrastructure with population growth, systemic security of drinking water, hygiene, OHS in an informed society could 'buy' another century of health. Treating the world's water bodies sustainably as a treasure would add to the water-security and food-security by simultaneously guaranteeing biodiversity. In cases of epidemics or pandemics, systemic and individual preparedness guarantees survival. In Australia “the water supply and sewage are a user-pays system that operate under a corporation”. Expert 'marketised scientific opinion' guide systemic decision-making.

Meanwhile huge chunks of water bodies are being distributed to 'water' coal mines and cotton fields. The 'privatisation bonanza' goes into full speed to 'finance big infrastructure plans'. The horse industry gets '110-million dollars compensation ' for the virus they had to endure.

More:
On the Use of Water - Or the Creation of Dead Zones
Drinking Water & Healthy Water Bodies Pt II
Antarctic Seals on Sydney Beaches - “ The anatomy of a sea lion is not too dissimilar to the human anatomy”

Links:
Norovirus updates, EU
Norovirus, CDC
Cholera, Textbook
Sick City, Maps and mortality in the time of cholera, Steven Shapin, The New Yorker
Dr. Eisenberg studies infectious disease epidemiology with a focus on waterborne and vectorborne diseases.
Proper hand washing procedure
Neglected diseases
Safe Drinking Water is Essential, National Academy of Sciences
The 1832 cholera epidemic in East London
web 2.0, diy health sousveillance:
Health Map, outbreaks and epidemics by country and disease
Flue wiki
Disease alert, Googlemap
Who is Sick?, map web 2.0
Mobile preparedness