Cate Gillon/Getty Images (CNN) – Clear water is not always a sign of clean water — or so suggests two new reports on water-associated disease outbreaks published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The reports do not include lead contamination.
She was not involved in the CDC reports.
The report said that 75% of the 1,006 cases of illness were linked to community water systems, which are government-regulated.
Waterborne disease During the same 2013-14 time frame, 15 outbreaks associated with an environmental exposure to water contaminated with harmful pathogens, chemicals or toxins were reported to the CDC by 10 states.
An additional 12 outbreaks caused by undetermined exposure to contaminated water were reported by eight states during the 2013-2014 period.
For the combined environmental and undetermined disease outbreaks, Legionella was responsible for 63% of the illnesses, 94% of hospitalizations and all deaths.
"So you have chemical contamination and bacterial contamination that you weren’t looking out for historically that are also now contaminating the water and causing severe health impacts to the community."
Though environmental scientists figured these issues were happening, there was no testing to verify them and no requirements at the federal or state level that tests be done by water systems.
"It’s really up to the citizens to be able to identify what’s going on with their drinking water source."