Water treatment plays a vital role in the prevention of disease. New technological procedures, like membrane cell electrolysis, are intended to help effectively fight the biofilm (a reservoir of pathogenic bacteria) created by micro-organisms. Microbiological testing of drinking water have shown the number of organisms to be above acceptable limits in 40% of the drinking water samples. New water treatment technologies are particularly important for hospitals, since they must protect their patients to the greatest extent possible from contamination by waterborne pathogens, such as pseudomonades, legionella, mycobacteria, chlamydia and aspergillus. Type-A pathogens alone, such as legionella, cause 4% of all cases of pneumonia (a particularly dangerous form of lung infection) treated in hospitals. Consequently, the treatment of drinking water is not just a microbiological issue and must be viewed within the wider context of health policy and health economics.
