Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of and in Public Drinking Water in China.

We aimed to assess the risks of and infections associated with drinking water for local residents, based on a quantitative microbial risk assessment, in three densely populated regions of China. In total, 45 source water samples and 45 treated water samples were collected from June to December 2014. Five -positive samples and 5 -positive samples were found. The annual probability of infection for individuals in Jintan (6.27 × 10 -2.05 × 10 for and 7.18 × 10 -2.32 × 10 for ), Ezhou (6.27 × 10 -1.10 × 10 for and 3.65 × 10 -1.20 × 10 for ), and Binyang (3.79 × 10 -1.25 × 10 for ) exceeded the tolerable risk of infection of 10 set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, the corresponding disease burdens of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis, due to direct drinking and residual water in these regions, exceeded the threshold of 10 disability-adjusted life years per person per year set by the World Health Organization. These results provide insights into strategies to improve the safety of drinking water.