The blue death : the intriguing past and present danger of the water you drink / Robert D. Morris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris, Robert D., 1956-

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Waterborne infection--History.

Waterborne infection.

History.

Physical Description:

310 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Harper, 2008.

Summary:

Environmental epidemiologist Morris chronicles the at times frightening story of our drinking water. He recounts the epidemics that have shaken cities and nations, the scientists who reached into the invisible and emerged with controversial truths that would save millions of lives, and the economic and political forces that opposed these researchers in a ferocious war of ideas. In the gritty world of nineteenth-century England, a physician proved that cholera could be hidden in a drop of water. In the twentieth century, burgeoning cities subdued cholera and typhoid by building massive filtration plants, and bubbling poisonous chlorine gas through their drinking water. However, in the new millennium, waterborne disease is threatening to reemerge, and research has linked chlorine treatment with cancer and stillbirths. Morris dispels notions of fail-safe water systems, revealing some shocking truths: miles of leaking water mains, constantly evolving microorganisms, and the looming threat of bioterrorism.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Pt. 1. Waterborne killers

1. The blue death

2. Snow on cholera

3. All smell is disease

4. The Experimentum Crucis

5. The doctor, the priest, and the outbreak at Golden Square

6. The great stink

pt. 2. Thirsty cities and dirty water

7. The race to cholera

8. The scramble for pure water

9. The two-edged sword

10. Spring in Milwaukee

11. The hidden seed

pt. 3. At war with the invisible

12. Drinking the Mississippi

13. Death in Ontario

14. Surviving the storm

15. The worst place on earth

16. The future of water : from E. Coli to al Qaeda

Afterword : strategies for safe water : a modest proposal.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [297]-307).

Harcover ed. published as: The blue death : disease, disaster, and the water we drink.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780060730901

0060730900

OCLC:

179806789