As water is a necessity for both human and livestock, when contaminated water can have severe effects on the health of both. Important quantities of water can be contaminated as ill animals and humans can excrete large numbers of oocysts, bacteria or viruses. Different manure treatments can control and lower the pathogen load. Monitoring the water routinely on farms could help prevent disease transmission and all measures that prevent manure from contaminating water sources have to be taken.

This article is very general and unfortunately doesn’t make any links between swine production and specific water contamination cases or disease outbreak. The risks coming from swine production are real but this article doesn’t help evaluate them.