The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink

Robert D. Morris, a public health expert, examines the safety of drinking water supplies and recounts historical water-related disasters. A Library Journal Best Consumer Health Book of the Year, this work chronicles epidemics that affected cities and nations, the scientists who uncovered truths about waterborne disease, and the economic and political opposition they faced. Morris traces the history of cholera and water safety from nineteenth-century England, where physician John Snow demonstrated that cholera could be transmitted through contaminated water, through Africa where Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch investigated the disease's causes, to the twentieth century when cities built filtration systems and water treatment infrastructure. The book also addresses modern concerns: research linking chlorine-based water treatment to cancer and stillbirths, leaking water mains spanning millions of miles, evolving microorganisms, and potential bioterrorism threats. The account presents information about natural and man-made hazards in drinking water systems across different time periods and geographic regions.