CDC's Environmental Health Services Network (EHS-Net) Water & Waterborne Disease

Twentieth-century improvements in sanitation and water treatment have greatly reduced the U.S. burden of waterborne illness; however, as we enter the 21 st century, there is increasing concern that emerging factors, such as global climate change, may pose new challenges to water quality. In fact, new questions are being raised about the healthfulness of community water supplies and the adequacy of current public health measures to recognize and prevent waterborne illness. In 2000, CDC launched the Environmental Health Services Network (EHS-Net) to implement a system-based approach to identifying and responding to disease outbreaks. EHS-Net, a collaborative project with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 9 states, began within CDC's FoodNet program and has since become an independent program. The EHS-Net three-pronged approach brought together disciplines, such as environmental health scientists, epidemiologists, and laboratorians, and allowed for a holistic approach and systematic analyses of food outbreaks. EHS-Net Water builds on the network established for food outbreaks and provides a forum to focus on current environmental public health issues related to small drinking water systems. EHS-Net Water also serves as a platform for various entities to investigate health effects, pilot monitoring programs, test public education programs, and investigate new mitigation methods for private wells and small systems. This presentation will show how the EHS-Net Water activity has improved waterborne disease outbreak surveillance and greatly improved outbreak identification and reporting in several jurisdictions.