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Blue Death, The
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this engrossing and disquieting book, the author, who specializes in drinking water epidemiology, raises the alarm about hidden perils in our water. He traces the history of the search for water-borne pathogens from the mid-19th century, when doctors discovered the bacterium that causes cholera (the blue death), to the 20th century, when it was found that chlorination and filtration would block many of the organisms responsible for diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery and cholera. But today, our water supply is far from safe. Some pathogens elude conventional filters; others are resistant to chlorine; and chlorinated drinking water may increase the risk of certain cancers. Climate change, emerging diseases, toxic chemicals, decaying pipes and terrorism also threaten our water. To dramatize his thesis, Morris describes devastating outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease, such as the one caused by a parasite in Milwaukee's drinking water that sickened 400,000 people in 1993. During the 19th century, doctors had to overcome opposition from those who refused to believe that diseases could be waterborne. Now, epidemiologists and researchers who advocate for tighter controls on drinking water must battle drinking water industry lobbyists who resist regulatory efforts. Morris argues persuasively that unless we do more to protect the water we drink, we court disaster.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* As physician and outspoken public health expert Morris recounts, with crystal clarity, some of history's epic drinking water disasters, from the 1853 London cholera outbreak to the 1993 cryptosporidiosis outbreak that sickened some 4,000 Milwaukee residents, and how thousands were saved by improved water treatment, it's easy to be lulled into smug contentedness. After all, American water is protected by not just the Clean Water Act but also the Safe Drinking Water Act. Morris contends, however, that outdated and inadequate filtration, by means employing possibly carcinogenic chlorine, fails to remove thousands of potentially hazardous chemicals from public freshwater sources. Add that concern to a water-delivery infrastructure at or nearing the end of its design-life expectancy, and you have reason enough to shake off all science-has-saved-us complacency. Throw in the too-easily-downplayed threat of bioterrorism, and you may join in Morris' clarion call for a fiercely proactive torrent of new technology in addition to expensive, if unglamorous, infrastructure replacement. Morris put the words death, disease, and disaster in the book's title to warn readers that his no-holds-barred narrative isn't for the squeamish. Pass the vodka, please. Uh, no ice. Chavez, Donna
See all Editorial Reviews
In this engrossing and disquieting book, the author, who specializes in drinking water epidemiology, raises the alarm about hidden perils in our water. He traces the history of the search for water-borne pathogens from the mid-19th century, when doctors discovered the bacterium that causes cholera (the blue death), to the 20th century, when it was found that chlorination and filtration would block many of the organisms responsible for diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery and cholera. But today, our water supply is far from safe. Some pathogens elude conventional filters; others are resistant to chlorine; and chlorinated drinking water may increase the risk of certain cancers. Climate change, emerging diseases, toxic chemicals, decaying pipes and terrorism also threaten our water. To dramatize his thesis, Morris describes devastating outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease, such as the one caused by a parasite in Milwaukee's drinking water that sickened 400,000 people in 1993. During the 19th century, doctors had to overcome opposition from those who refused to believe that diseases could be waterborne. Now, epidemiologists and researchers who advocate for tighter controls on drinking water must battle drinking water industry lobbyists who resist regulatory efforts. Morris argues persuasively that unless we do more to protect the water we drink, we court disaster.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* As physician and outspoken public health expert Morris recounts, with crystal clarity, some of history's epic drinking water disasters, from the 1853 London cholera outbreak to the 1993 cryptosporidiosis outbreak that sickened some 4,000 Milwaukee residents, and how thousands were saved by improved water treatment, it's easy to be lulled into smug contentedness. After all, American water is protected by not just the Clean Water Act but also the Safe Drinking Water Act. Morris contends, however, that outdated and inadequate filtration, by means employing possibly carcinogenic chlorine, fails to remove thousands of potentially hazardous chemicals from public freshwater sources. Add that concern to a water-delivery infrastructure at or nearing the end of its design-life expectancy, and you have reason enough to shake off all science-has-saved-us complacency. Throw in the too-easily-downplayed threat of bioterrorism, and you may join in Morris' clarion call for a fiercely proactive torrent of new technology in addition to expensive, if unglamorous, infrastructure replacement. Morris put the words death, disease, and disaster in the book's title to warn readers that his no-holds-barred narrative isn't for the squeamish. Pass the vodka, please. Uh, no ice. Chavez, Donna
See all Editorial Reviews
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