Between 1831 and 1854 tens of thousands of people in England died of cholera. An 1854 cholera...
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Transcript of Between 1831 and 1854 tens of thousands of people in England died of cholera. An 1854 cholera...
• Between 1831 and 1854 tens of thousands of people in England died of cholera.
• An 1854 cholera epidemic in Soho (London) killed 500 people within 250 yards of the spot where Cambridge Street joins Broad Street, the location of this water pump.
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The built environment and water
John Snow (1813-1858)• Determined that cholera
was a water transmitted disease
• First used a “GIS” to track an infectious disease
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Vibrio cholerae -- the cholera bacterium
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Source: http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html
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Snow’s observations:Forever changed how cities
obtain drinking water
MWRA Distribution System
Bangladesh
MYANMAR
• Seasonal flooding, waterborne pathogens caused widespread disease and death.
• Bangladeshi government, Unicef and other aid groups, began tube well installations in 1970’s. Currently,
• 10 million tube wells installed
• 130 million people (97% of population) obtain drinking water from groundwater wells
• Early 1990’s - High levels of Arsenic (As) found in groundwater.
• Other regions - e.g. West Bengal, Taiwan, Vietnam, US (e.g. New Hampshire), Chile...
Groundwater tube well use and irrigation
Harvey et al, 2005
Irrigation greatly increased food supply and helped fuel a tripling of the Bangladeshi population during the last 40 years
What is causing the mass poisoning of drinking water in West Bengal and Bangladesh?
• 50% of wells (46 million people) have As > 10 ug/L
• 28% of wells (28 million people) have As > 50 ug/L
Yu et al., 2002
[As] in groundwater
• Cities have long experienced water pollution
• Environmental health effects: acute to chronic illnesses
• Access to clean drinking water still a major issue for a large percentage of the Earth’s population
• Massive water distribution systems are expensive and are not necessarily the solution for every situation
Lessons learned: Water pollution
Lake Waban has a complex history
1850 1900 1950 2000
Henry Woods Sons & Co.: 1848 – 1928
Paint pigments:PbCrO4, BaSO4, Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3
Pb, V, S
Algaecide applications: 1950s – 1980s
Pesticides: PbHAsO4, CaHAsO4, Pb5OH(AsO4)3
Boston and Worcester RR: 1834 – present
Wellesley Apple Orchards: 1850s – 1950s
Leaded gasoline: peak usage 1970s
Pb, Cu, Zn, As
NaAsO2, As2O3, CuSO4
Methods
Inlet:
Upper Waban Brook
Outlet:
Lower Waban Brook
Ekman Dredge
2004 Freeze Cores
2006 Freeze Cores
Russian Cores
Sediment samples were analyzed using XRF, ICP-MS, and SEM-EDS.
Distribution of Pb in surface sediments
LEGEND
[Pb] (µg/g )
500 – 1500 µg/g
10000 – 15000 µ g/g
15000 – 20000 µ g/g
Significantly elevated [Pb] are observed in surface sediments.