Does the water infrastructure crisis have an impact on public health?
Yes it does. According to estimates from The Center for Disease Control, there are over 1.3 million cases of waterborne disease each year, many due to poor infrastructure. In 2000 alone, there were an estimated 23,000 to 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows in the U.S., discharging 3-10 billion gallons of untreated wastewater into local waterways. According to the EPA, an estimated 1.8 million to 3.5 million people get sick from recreational contact with sewage from sanitary sewage overflows every year. A separate study estimated that up to 1.5 million gastrointestinal illnesses are caused each year by swimming in contaminated waters at various beaches in California. The EPA reports also show that 8.2 percent of the community water systems in the United States that serve populations of less than 10,000 were in violation of health and safety standards for drinking water quality in, affecting more than 4 million people.
