Our Nation’s wastewater and drinking water systems continue to be stretched to serve ever growing populations in communities that may have aging and outdated infrastructure. One of the biggest health challenges is the management of sewer overflows, which discharge billions of gallons of untreated wastewater into our waterways. This discharge contributes to the thousands of waterborne illnesses contracted from exposure to recreational waters and drinking water sources that may be contaminated with pathogens, such as Legionella and Escherichia coli.

Research focuses on the following:

• Developing the methodologies and scientific information to support drinking water standards and other policies that protect people from waterborne illnesses.
• Improving methods to measure human exposure to waterborne pathogens from source waters or drinking waters.
• Prioritizing pathogen groups and information on the health risks of waterborne pathogens.

Related Resources

• Research to Support and Implement Recreational Water Quality
• Research on Methods for Water System Management to Minimize Human and Ecological Health Risk
• Saliva-Based Exposure Assays for Detecting Exposure to Waterborne Pathogens
• Determining the Prevalence of Contaminants in Treated and Untreated Drinking Water
• Water Quality Criteria Documents
• Water Quality Standards: Human Health Criteria
• Chemical and Microbial Risk Research