Waterborne pathogens are organisms that live and thrive in water supplies, including rivers, lakes, streams, and even some aquifers that are used as drinking water sources. 

Developed by The Groundwater Foundation, Protecting Our Water: A Primer for Preventing Pathogenic Contamination of Drinking Water Sources, describes how pathogens get into drinking water, how to identify and monitor land use for potential sources of pathogens, and how to prevent pathogenic contamination of drinking water sources.  The primer includes six case studies that describe how communities can take action to reduce pathogenic threats to their source water.

Though widespread waterborne pathogen outbreaks are typically rare, they do occur and have the potential to impact a large number of people.  In 1993, Milwaukee, Wisconsin suffered the largest outbreak of Cryptosporidium in history. Over 400,000 people became ill and about 100 died. In Walkerton, Ontario a 2000 outbreak of E. Coli caused over 600 illnesses and seven deaths.  In 1999, an outbreak at the Washington County Fair in New York caused over 780 illnesses and two deaths.  The vast majority of pathogenic contamination events are small, generally isolated, and unreported.

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