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.