AWWA Releases New Book Examining Water Contamination Outbreaks

Ensuring Safe Drinking Water offers 21 case studies and in-depth analysis of delivering safe water to consumers

The American Water Works Association has announced the release of its newest publication, Ensuring Safe Drinking Water: Learning From Frontline Experience With Contamination by Steve E. Hrudey and Elizabeth J. Hrudey.

It is easy for consumers to take safe drinking water for granted until something in the process goes wrong. With that in mind, Ensuring Safe Drinking Water by Steve E. Hrudey and Elizabeth J. Hrudey explores such challenging situations as waterborne disease outbreaks, chemical contaminations and “close calls” that can occur at water utilities. These situations are explored in-depth in 21 case studies that illustrate the immense responsibility that is placed on individuals who deliver safe drinking water to the public.

Written from the viewpoint of the personnel who were in the forefront of the situation, each case study recounted in Ensuring Safe Drinking Water is fully detailed with information on background, operational details and lessons learned included.

Ensuring Safe Drinking Water: Learning From Frontline Experience With Contamination is available in AWWA’s online store.

About the authors:
Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, a professional engineer and retired professor, has maintained a diverse career in the environmental health sciences and risk management for more than 40 years and has been recognized with several awards including a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; the 2013 Research Excellence Summit Award of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta; and the 2012 A.P. Black Award of the AWWA. He has participated in writing more than 25 expert panel reports, serving as Chair for 8, focused on issues such as the Walkerton Inquiry, safe drinking water for First Nations, environmental and health impacts of Canada’s oil sands industry and risk governance for water utilities.

Elizabeth J. Hrudey was trained and worked as a microbiology technologist at the Alberta University Provincial Laboratory of Public Health. She has worked as a researcher on off-flavor studies at the University of Alberta and engaged in various environmental health risk studies with Steve E. Hrudey & Associates Ltd. She was co-author for the widely recognized, best-selling book, Safe Drinking Water: Lessons From Recent Outbreaks in Affluent Nations, as well as for several papers and book chapters on the subject of safe drinking water.

About the publication:
Ensuring Safe Drinking Water: Learning From Frontline Experience With Contamination
By Steve E. Hrudey and Elizabeth J. Hrudey
Published by American Water Works Association
ISBN: 978-1-58321-924-9
Softcover, 296pp.
Price: $48 AWWA members, $62 non-members
Product #: 20752

About American Water Works Association
Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world’s most important resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.