firlandsfarm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 3:29 pm
Archery1969 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 2:34 pm
I don’t think Ricin can be detected easily. There isn’t a known medical test for it. Not sure what treatment works use for cleansing water. My brother works for Southern Water back in the UK. I’ll email him.
I was just thinking all defences are aimed at plain physical ones especially nuclear ones whereas contaminating a nation’s water supply would be less destructive .
Yeah contaminating the water supply has probably been overlooked to some extent. But I imagine its difficult to get access to the treated water which goes to customers. I dont know but I imagine they measure water quality automatically and if something has been put in it then red flags are raised. But I have no clue to be honest.
Here you go.....
You’ll be pleased to know that contamination of a body of water like a reservoir, or a water management facility like a pumping station, with a biological agent would likely not produce a large risk to public health due to a number of different factors, the principle two being:
Dilution effect Due to the sheer volume of water in our waterways and water systems, any contaminant would have to be introduced in extraordinarily large quantities in order to have mass impact on the general population. As some people say “dilution is the solution to pollution”, and the same also applies to some extent with toxins. This line of defence is strongest in our rivers, lakes and even streams and particularly also in our dams and reservoirs, which can hold anywhere from a couple of million to several hundred billion gallons of water.
Filtration and disinfection of the water Filtration and chlorination is the most common method of water disinfection in the developed world and has been identified as one of the major public health successes of the 20th century. Most bacteria and viruses are generally inactivated by the chlorination process, including some toxic pathogens, eg – cholera and the botulinum toxin that causes botulism. However, other biological agents including anthrax spores, are resistant and can remain stable in water for up to two years.