National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) (CDC launched NORS in 2009 where public health departments voluntarilly enter outbreak information).
Oxidizing Disinfectants:
Oxidizing disinfectants (chlorine, chloramines, and ozone) are the final barrier in the Environmental Protection Agency recommended multibarrier approach to providing pathogen free water to the consumer. They are the most commonly used disinfectants for drinking water.
Hypochlorite (chlorine) has been used as a disinfectant for more than 100 years. Hypochlorites are lethal to most microbes. Hypochlorite (chlorine) typically refers to free chlorine in water, mainly HOCl (hypochlorous acid) and OCl⁻ (hypochlorite ion). Hypochlorite (free chlorine) is a stronger, faster disinfectant than monochloramine below. Herson, “Effect of Oxidizing Disinfectants (Chlorine, Monochloramine, and Ozone) on Helicobacter pylori” APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Feb. 2002, p. 981–984))
Monochloramine (NH2Cl), produced by the reaction of free chlorine and ammonia in a process called chloramination, is generally considered a leading candidate as an alternative to free chlorine. The Denver Water Department has been using chloramination as a primary water disinfection process for more than 70 years. Monochloramine is more stable and lasts longer in pipes thaan hypochlorite. But it is a weaker (slower kill). It is sed for maintaining residual disinfection in distribution systems. Herson, “Effect of Oxidizing Disinfectants (Chlorine, Monochloramine, and Ozone) on Helicobacter pylori” APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Feb. 2002, p. 981–984))
Ozone: While it is not as common as chlorine or monochloramine, the use of ozone is increasing in the United States. The advantages of ozone use in drinking water include a greater oxidation
potential than other disinfectants and rapid decomposition of residual ozone. (Herson, “Effect of Oxidizing Disinfectants (Chlorine, Monochloramine, and Ozone) on Helicobacter pylori” APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Feb. 2002, p. 981–984))
Phytoremediation:
Phytoremdiation is the use of plants in bioremediation, the process in which living organisms are used to remove or detoxify pollutants in the enviornment.
Some root cell membrane channels and transporters lack absolute specificity and can take up heavy metals like aluminum and other toxins. Although iin most cases uptake of toxins is letal or growth limiting, some plants have evolved the ability to sequester or relase these compounds into the atmosphere.
Phytoremediation can work in a number of ways with both aquatic and soil pollutants. Plants may secrete a substance form their roots that breaks down the contaminant. More often, the harmful chemical enters the roots and is transported to the shoot system, mkaing it easier to remove the chemical from a contaminated site. After the nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, sunflowers effectively removed radioactive cesium from nearby lakes. The plants were floated in foram supports ont he surface of the lakes and latter collected.
Poplars naturally take up trichloroethylene (TCE) from the soil and metabolize it into CO2 and chlorine.