THE BLUE DEATH

Cholera, whose victims’ blood is so viscous from dehydration that oxygen-deprived tissues turn blue, is just one of the scourges of contaminated drinking water vividly described in this collection of cautionary tales.

Morris, a Seattle-based M.D. with a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, approaches water systems like an engineer, disease outbreaks like an epidemiologist, and the people and events behind waterborne disasters like an investigative reporter. This occasionally leads to florid writing of the “little did he know...” variety, but more often the effect is riveting. The author begins with the story of pioneering doctor John Snow, who persuaded Victorian authorities to remove the handle of London’s Broad Street pump to stem a cholera epidemic. They did, but cholera returned again and again because the so-called “sanitarians” didn’t believe water carried invisible organisms and were sure their new sewer systems guaranteed the public’s health. Not until Robert Koch isolated and identified the comma-shaped bacillus that caused cholera would filtering systems and later chlorination become standard means of safeguarding drinking water. Neverending vigilance is a must, declares Morris, offering accounts of more recent disasters such as a 1993 outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee and a Canadian irruption of E. coli 0157:H7 in 2000. Only massive shipments of bottled water, he remarks, spared New Orleans from a post-Katrina waterborne plague. Cholera continues to be a threat in the developing world, especially when natural or manmade disasters trigger massive movements of people. The author highlights other disturbing portents: the prospect of climate change disrupting global water supplies; the fact that most cities are served by century-old rusting and leaking pipes; evidence of chlorine-resistant bacteria; turf warfare between water companies and public-health agencies; and reluctance on the part of regulators like the EPA to impose stiffer standards.

Makes a convincing case that more attention must be paid to our water supply.