Identifying Populations at Greatest Risk of Waterborne Disease

T he risk of waterborne diseaseis clearly recognized by the gen-eral public, but perhaps not as earnestly by immunocompromised individuals as it should be. This group consists primarily of the very young, the elderly, pregnant women and per-sons with diminished immunity, ei-ther due to medical intervention (or-gan transplants, invasive surgery), previous illness (diabetes, cancer) or infection (AIDS, etc.). For these popu-lations, the risk of serious illness due to contaminated water consumption is greater than the general population. Guidelines issued by the U.S. En-vironmental Protection Agenc