Drinking Water Home

CDC at Work

CDC experts work to address drinking water issues that affect public health through various research, prevention, and policy activities and programs. This work spans many disciplines and includes:

Research on Health Impacts

Providing support for state and local health officials to investigate, report, and prevent illnesses associated with drinking water systems.
- Providing outbreak and consultative assistance.
- Identifying and tracking the causes and sources of parasitic and waterborne disease.
Estimating the number of illnesses and costs associated with waterborne disease and outbreaks.
Identifying the health impacts of climate change, aging drinking water infrastructure, and well water usage to develop strategies for improvement.
Identifying and analyzing environmental factors that contribute to waterborne disease.
Developing improved laboratory methods for sampling, testing, and monitoring water quality.
Developing tools and training to improve waterborne disease outbreak investigations.
Assessing the health effects of backcountry water use in national parks (collaboration with the National Park Service).

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Tracking Disease

Building national surveillance (tracking) capacity for waterborne disease and outbreaks
- Operating the national Waterborne Disease and Outbreak Surveillance System (WBDOSS) to collect data on waterborne disease and outbreaks in the U.S.
- Reporting national notifiable disease surveillance data for common waterborne illnesses such as cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis.
- Collecting and reporting surveillance data for free-living amoebae infections (Naegleria, Balamuthia, Acanthamoeba).
- Building CryptoNet, a national DNA-based molecular surveillance system for understanding U.S. transmission of cryptosporidiosis.

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Development of New Laboratory Methods

Developing and testing performance of disinfection and filtration systems for waterborne pathogen inactivation or removal.
- Developing recommendations for treating swimming pools following contamination.
- Testing the disinfectant sensitivity of waterborne pathogens in drinking and recreational water.

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Policy and Public Outreach

Working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other partners to provide guidance on drinking water policy and research priorities.
Developing a National Well Data Repository to support public health decision making for well water.
Applying study findings to improve waterborne disease prevention outreach, education, policies, and practices.
Providing national leadership on community water fluoridation practice.

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Collaboration and Partnerships

Supporting EPA and other partners in performing their duties and responsibilities related to protecting national drinking water.
Guiding the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs that promote water safety.
Strengthening the collaboration among epidemiology, laboratory, environmental health, and regulatory programs to prevent waterborne disease.
Conducting lab-based disease surveillance of foodborne, waterborne, and diarrheal diseases.
Developing and implementing prevention strategies for waterborne diseases in consultation with regulatory agencies and the food industry.

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Information Dissemination

Developing and improving access to water-related health and prevention information through expansion of the content and resources on the Healthy Water website.
Promoting national drinking-water related observances.
Developing guidance in collaboration with other partners for communications planning [PDF - 162 pages] during emergency events such as drinking water advisories.