[ Drinking water and sewage treatment plants are the main reason lifespans nearly doubled. Not medicine. Read Laurie Garrett’s “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health” for details.

As energy declines, the ability of towns and cities to treat water and sewage (haul garbage, clean up superfund toxic waste sites, etc)., will decline, as this is both expensive in terms of money and energy. Currently, the vast majority of water delivery systems are falling apart and not being maintained or replaced despite energy abundance.

For decades I’ve been frustrated that the media rarely reports on infrastructure. It takes a disaster to put a spotlight on the issue, but even then, the problem is seen as being local to where the disaster occurred, i.e. Flint Michigan, despite many, if not most, water systems in the nation at risk. So consider putting clean water at the top of your surviving peak oil to-do list. It seems likely that at some point, the larger the city, the more unhealthy it will become to live there…

Below is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention list of water-borne diseases. A single asterisk (*) denotes Sanitation & Hygiene-Related Diseases. A double asterisk (**) indicates Vector or Insect-borne Diseases Associated with Water.

Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com ]

Acanthamoeba * (CDC, CDC-Water)

Adenoviruses (CDC, CDC-general)

Aeromonas hydrophila (FDA)

Algal Blooms, Harmful (HABs) (CDC)

Amebiasis (CDC)

Anemia ( WHO )

) Arsenic (CDC-ATSDR, CDC-Water, WHO)

Arsenicosis (CDC-ATSDR, WHO)

Ascariasis * (CDC, WHO, WHO-general)

Ascaris lumbricoides * (CDC, WHO, WHO-general)

Astrovirus (CDC)

Atrazine (CDC-ATSDR)

Balamuthia mandrillaris (CDC, WHO)

Benzene (CDC-ATSDR)

Bilharzia (CDC, WHO, WHO-PPC) (see also Schistosomiasis)

Boating (CDC)

Body Lice * (CDC, CDC-Water)

Burkholderia cepacia complex (CDC)

Buruli Ulcer (CDC, WHO)

Campylobacter (CDC, CDC-Water, WHO)

Campylobacteriosis (CDC, CDC-Water, WHO)

Cercarial Dermatitis (CDC)

Chloramines (CDC, EPA)

Chlamydia trachomatis * (CDC, CDC-Water, WHO) (see also Trachoma)

Chlorine (CDC, CDC-ATSDR)

Cholera (CDC, WHO)

Chromium (CDC, EPA)

Coliform bacteria (EPA)

Conjunctivitis (CDC)

Copper (CDC-ATSDR, CDC-Water)

Coxsackievirus (A16, B) (Enterovirus) (CDC)

Cryptosporidiosis (CDC, CDC-Water)

Cryptosporidium (CDC, CDC-Water)

Cyanobacteria (CDC, WHO)

Cyclospora (CDC)

Cyclosporiasis (CDC)

Dengue Fever ** (CDC, WHO)

Dental Caries * (CDC-Water)

Dermatitis (CDC)

Diarrhea (CDC-Water, WHO)

Diarrhea, Chronic (CDC-Water, WHO)

Diarrhea, Travelers’ (CDC)

Dracunculiasis (CDC, WHO)

Dracunculus medinensis (CDC, WHO)

Eastern Equine Encephalitis ** (CDC)

Echovirus (Type 9, 13, 30) (Enterovirus) (CDC)

Entamoeba histolytica (CDC) (see also Amebiasis)

Enterovirus (CDC, CDC-Water)

Entrapment (CDC)

Escherichia coli 0157:H7 / “E. coli” (CDC, CDC-Water, EPA, WHO)

Ethylbenzene (CDC-ATSDR)

Fasciola gigantica (CDC, WHO)

Fasciola hepatica (CDC, WHO)

Fascioliasis (CDC, WHO)

Fasciolopsiasis (CDC)

Fasciolopsis buski (CDC)

Fluoride (CDC-ATSDR, CDC, WHO)

Fluorosis (CDC-ATSDR, CDC, WHO)

Folliculitis (CDC)

Giardia (CDC, CDC-Water)

Giardiasis (CDC, CDC-Water)

Guinea Worm Disease (CDC, WHO) (see also Dracunculiasis)

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) (CDC)

Head Lice * (CDC, CDC-Water)

Helminthiasis * (CDC, WHO, WHO-PPC)

Hepatitis A (CDC, CDC-Water, WHO)

Hepatitis E (CDC, WHO)

Hookworm * (CDC, WHO-general)

Japanese Encephalitis ** (CDC, WHO)

Keratitis (CDC)

Tetrachloroethylene (PERC)(CDC-ATSDR, CDC-NIOSH, EPA)

Tinea * (CDC, WHO, NIH) (see also Ringworm)

Toxins, Marine (CDC, CDC-general)

Toxoplasma gondii (CDC)

Toxoplasmosis (CDC)

Trachoma * (CDC, CDC-Water, WHO)

Travelers’ Diarrhea (CDC)

Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) * (CDC, WHO-general)

Typhoid Fever (CDC, WHO-water, WHO)

Vibrio cholerae (CDC, WHO)

Vibrio cholerae non-01 (CDC, FDA)

Vibrio parahaemolyticus (CDC, FDA)

Vibrio vulnificus (CDC, FDA)

Vinyl Chloride (CDC-ATSDR, EPA)

Viral Gastroenteritis (CDC)

West Nile Virus ** (CDC)

Western Equine Encephalitis ** (CDC)

Yellow Fever ** (CDC, WHO)