Epidemic/Pandemic Emergency Planning for Water Utilities.

Epidemics and pandemics are natural disasters that water utilities must prepare for and respond to. There are mitigation measures that utilities can employ during an epidemic or pandemic to reduce the impact of these disasters on their operations and the communities that they serve. The guidance and resources in this article should help drinking water utilities deal with present and future COVID-19 concerns, as well as other public health emergencies that will undoubtedly occur in the future.

The importance of clinical surveillance in detecting legionnaires' disease outbreaks: a large outbreak in a hospital with a Legionella disinfection system-Pennsylvania, 2011-2012.

Background: Healthcare-associated Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a preventable pneumonia with a 30% case fatality rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend a high index of suspicion for the diagnosis of healthcare-associated LD. We characterized an outbreak and evaluated contributing factors in a hospital using copper-silver ionization for prevention of Legionella growth in water.

Nitrate, coliforms, and Cryptosporidium spp. as indicators of stream water quality in western Pennsylvania.

Surface-water treatment plants provide water to approximately 67 percent of the residents of Pennsylvania. Industrial activities and agricultural practices significantly contribute to the chemical and microbiological load of surface-water systems. For the study reported here, surface water from three sites along Two Lick Creek in Indiana County in Pennsylvania were sampled and analyzed for nitrate, iron, total and fecal coliforms, and Cryptosporidium oocysts.