In Canada we are lucky to have plentiful supplies of good drinking water. Water-related illnesses - typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery - are almost unknown in this country today.
Waste and wastewater treatment, the development and enforcement of drinking water guidelines, public health practices and education have all resulted in a decrease in water related illnesses in Canada . Developing nations are less fortunate: 80% of their diseases are water-related.
The price Canadians pay to prevent water-borne disease is constant vigilance against viral, bacterial and parasitic contamination. Periodic beach closures and local epidemics are evidence that the battle is never won. These problems underscore the need for maintaining strict control over water quality and for improving water and wastewater treatment.
The RésEau health projects identify a selected number of waterborne disease outbreaks that have occurred since 1974. Outbreaks are spatially located by the town or city in which they occurred and information is provided on outbreak specifics such as number ill, factors associated with causing the outbreak.
