In 2000, cow manure got into a well and polluted the water in a Canadian city called Walkerton. This caused many people to become ill and 7 people died. This information was concealed from the public and it in turn ruined lives. This is the worst incidence of water pollution Joan Rose, a microbiologist, has ever seen. Hundreds of incidents like this occur around the world every year. Mortality from water-borne illness has decreased, but the main problem is morbidity. The pollution of water sources is increasing. Money must be invested in water infrastructure in order to solve this problem.

Cleaning the world’s water: ‘We are now more polluted than we have ever been’