Water quality and extreme events

A one-day workshop on extreme events and their effects on water quality and microbial health risks was held at the recent 16th International Symposium on Health-Related Water Microbiology (WaterMicro 2011) in Rotorua, New Zealand. Six presentations were given on presenters' experiences of natural disasters occurring around the world during the last decade including Hurricane Katrina in the US, the post-earthquake cholera outbreak in Haiti, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, earthquakes in New Zealand and Spain, and floods in Australia.

Presentations were given by Dr Joan Rose (Michigan State University, USA); Dr Huw Taylor (University of Brighton, UK); Dr Alistair Humphrey (Medical Officer of Health, Canterbury region, New Zealand); Dr Hiro Katayama and Dr Yoshi Massago (University of Tpkyo and University of Japan); Prof Rosina Girones (University of Barcelona, Spain); and Prof Paul Jagals, Prof Simon Toze and Dr Paul Burrell (University of Queensland, CSIRO and SEQ Water Grid Manager).

Disruption of water and sanitation systems by extreme events leads to increased risks from enteric pathogens, and health impacts depend on the scale of the event, the status and resilience of water supply and sanitation systems prior to the event, the adequacy of pre-existing disaster planning programs, and the availability of resources to respond to the disaster. Group discussions noted the need for research to provide evidence for effective intervention measures in post-disaster situations and the value of baseline data in determining the rate of return to normal conditions.

You can read more about issues relating to extreme events and water quality, including a more detailed overview of the presentations from the workshop, and subsequent group discussions at this event, in issue 64 of WQRA's HealthStream.