Seepage From Sewer Pipes Polluting Deep Water Aquifers With Viruses: EPA Does Not Regulate Viruses In Drinking Water

Posted by Milton Recht:

From Chemical & Engineering News, "Viruses From Sewage Contaminate Deep Well Water: Water Pollution: Human pathogens rapidly invade underground aquifers previously thought to be protected" by Janet Pelley

Scientists once thought that pathogens could not reach drinking water wells sunk into deep, protected groundwater aquifers. Nevertheless, over the past decade, researchers have identified diarrhea-causing viruses at a handful of deep bedrock well sites in the U.S. and Europe. Now, researchers in Madison, Wis., report where these pathogenic viruses may have originated. The viruses appear to seep from sewer pipes and then swiftly penetrate drinking water wells (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es400509b).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate the presence of viruses in drinking water, so many public water systems do not routinely test for them.

[HT: Slashdot]