Control and Detection of Bioterrorism Attacks in Water Resources

Bioterrorism involves the deliberate use of microbial pathogens or microbe-derived products to cause harm to humans, livestock, or agricultural crops. Dilution of contaminated water with bioterrorism agents, physical and addition of chemicals (hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, sodium hydroxide and ozone), water treatment methods (coagulation/flocculation, sand filtration and activated carbon), reverse osmosis and UV and gamma radiation are methods for control of contaminated water by bioterrorism agents. Methods such as reverse osmosis (RO) that can remove protozoan cysts, bacteria, viruses, and biotoxins, or UV and gamma radiation that inactivate Bacillus spores are also suggested for this purpose. Because cryptosporidium oocysts are not effectively inactivated by disinfectants, their removal from water requires proper sand filtration. Early warning systems include physical analysis (online pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen or turbidity probes) and chemical analysis (various online analytical probes for measuring anions, cations, chlorophyll-specific metals and organic compounds) are available that can be used depending on the type of contaminant. Molecular methods for the detection of human pathogens and parasites, online biomarkers for the detection of chemical toxins, biotoxin concentrations and bioterrorism agents are preferred methods.