The History Of Water Rights In Rome NY

Water rights are something people take for granted. When we hear the term "water rights", we think of the west coast, whereas water is in short demand. However, water rights is a nationwide issue on many levels. Pollution is the most common problem outside of water shortages. In fact, clean water has been in the news this past year, reminding us that managing water is critical for communities. . The need for clean water is legislated by the Clean Water Act of 1972. Many communities back in the 1970s were in need of repair. Clean water was a problem.

Central New York was not immune from the water rights controversy of the 1970s. A great example of  how clean water impacted it's citizens happened in Rome New York back in the mid 1970s. Rome had the largest Giardiasis outbreak in the nation. Lost in the archives were the details that were documented by scientists. Here is what happened based on reports from the CDC.

Three hundred fifty residents of Rome, New York, had laboratory-confirmed cases of giardiasis between 1 November 1974 and 7 June 1975. A random household survey showed an overall attack rate for giardiasis (defined as a diarrheal illness of 5 days or more) of 10.6%. A significant association was discovered between having giardiasis and using city water and between having illness and drinking 1 or more glasses of water a day. The presence of human settlements in the Rome watershed area suggested that the water supply could have been contaminated by untreated human waste. The infectivity of municipal water was confirmed by producing giardiasis in specific pathogen-free dogs fed sediment samples of raw water obtained from an inlet of a city reservoir. A microscopic examination of the water sediments uncovered a Giardia lamblia cyst in one sample. This was the first time that a G. lamblia cyst has been found in municipal water in an epidemic and the first time that such water has been shown to infect laboratory animals. (source - CDC)

One has to travel back in time to understand what was gong on in the Rome area. Water governance was an issue. The area was transitioning to Water Authorities largely in part due to Federal Legislation by the Clean Water Act of 1972. The outbreak was largely due to failed policies of the past. The outbreak today is a lost part of Rome's history.  The good news is that reform came after the outbreak, and Rome has some one of the best water supplies in the United States.