5 ms·
That was my thought as well. I'm not sure what the likelihood of a disease contaminating the entire resivoir is, but regardless wouldn't the water be sterilized
by dkokelley 13y ago
That was my thought as well. I'm not sure what the likelihood of a disease contaminating the entire resivoir is, but regardless wouldn't the water be sterilized before it hits the tap? After all it's exposed to other wildlife.
- bitJericho 13y agoThe disease would have to be transmitted via urine, then it would have to survive in mostly clean water for what... days? Months? Years? and then it would have to be effective after normal consumption. I'm not aware of any disease that would be transmitted this way.
- maxerickson 13y agoThere are occasionally outbreaks associated with municipal water supplies. I remember a big one from Milwaukee in the early '90s, looking it up, it was caused by a protozoa, cryptosporidium. They can be pretty durable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptosporidium#Life_cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptosporidium#Life_cycle
- bitJericho 13y agoI remember that. Was a kid at the time and I swear it felt like we had to boil water for months :D
- anigbrowl 13y agoGood point. There are federal rules in place to address that very issue, as a direct result of the outbreak you mention: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/lt2/index.cfm http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/lt2/index.cfm Essentially, the options are cover your reservoirs or put filtration & disinfection systems in place.