This year's National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week, designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the week of May 21 -27, is to highlight the importance of healthy swimming behaviors. Specifically, the objective is to prevent Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs), which are associated with outbreaks in swimming pools, water parks, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

Sixty-two percent of RWI outbreaks are related to the chlorine-resistance pathogen, Cryptosporidium, which is introduced into the pool by swimmers who are ill with diarrhea. Their spread is facilitated to other swimmers when they swallow the contaminated water. Although anyone can get sick from RWIs, healthy swimming behaviors play an important role in halting their spread.

According to the CDC and the Water and Quality Health Council's Healthy Pools Campaign, some of the best way pool operators can prevent against RWIs, include:

• Regularly adding chlorine to the pool water.
• Testing pool levels daily - at a minimum - for proper disinfection.
• Conduct "shock treatments" every week.

For additional information about healthy swimming behaviors, please visit:
WQ&HC Healthy Pools

A new generation of water filtration materials, termed membrane filtration, is enabling municipalities and industries in the United States and water-short countries overseas to produce safe drinking water from supplies contaminated with salts and other undesirable compounds.

Recent improvements in the design and chemistry of membrane filters based on polymers such as polvinylidene fluoride, polyamide, and polypropylene have made it possible to economically screen out contaminants. To make unsafe, even deadly water potable, these polymeric filters remove a range of impurities, salts, and suspended organic matter that otherwise impart poor taste, smell, and appearance.

Much of the demand for water filtration in the United States results from increasingly stringent Federal regulations for drinking water drawn from surface sources. A growing market for membrane filtration has emerged in Florida, Texas, California and other locales that must treat brackish water. Demand for this technology is also strong abroad, especially in areas such as the Middle East that face severe water shortages and produce drinking water by desalination of sea water.

For more information on this new technology, please visit:
Membrane Filtration Technology

Chinese officials recently announced a commitment to invest more than $77.72 billion in water projects as part of the country's 11th Five-Year Program (2006-2010). The announcement was made to attendees of the recent China Water Congress 2007 in Beijing. A portion of the funds will go towards water supply infrastructure and new sewage treatment facilities.

In the interim, China will build 1,000 new sewage treatment plants. It is estimated that by the year 2010 the rate of water supply systems will reach 90 percent in all cities.

Additionally, China will invest $3.85 billion on improvements to dams and rural drinking water systems. Some of this money has been allocated as follows:

• $415.8 million - reinforcement of reservoir banks
• $779.7 million - safe drinking water projects for rural residents

The nation has strived for years to attain safe drinking water but has had difficulty keeping pace with its rapidly escalating population. To achieve its goals, China will rely on foreign investment, particularly in waste water treatment projects.

For additional information, please visit:
Chinese Water Market Welcomes Foreign Investment

Officials in Beijing have warned Olympic visitors that the city's drinking water will not be available from taps except for those residing within the Olympic Village. Relatively few of the city's 15 million residents drink water from the tap; instead they rely predominantly on bottled water.

Beijing's location contributes to its long-term water shortage problem. The city has no major rivers and suffices on rainfall, underground supplies and support from surrounding provinces and cities for water. The city is currently experiencing a decade-long drought, which has also exacerbated its fragile water supply.

A canal will divert water from river-rich central China to the arid north is slated to go online in April 2008, offering some relief to Beijing's limited supply. Government officials have spent billions to clean and modernize the city's water systems but its efforts have remained insufficient

For more information on the Beijing water shortage, please visit:
Beijing Water Shortage

In The News-is a bi-weekly, online service from the Water Quality & Health Council.  The publication is updated every other Friday and can be viewed by logging onto www.waterandhealth.org.  To receive the publication via e-mail, please click here and enter your e-mail address to join our mailing list.