Delta Life 7

P rofessor Lora Fleming initially trained as doctor, but aquatic ecosystems caught her interest early in her career. The occupational and environmental health physician and epidemiologist now leads an interdisciplinary team researching the connections between water and human health. How does water affect humans, and vice-versa? Her own research has focused on algal blooms and microbes, and on how these aquatic organisms affect people. 'People have an impact on aquatic ecosystems often and in many different ways: we channel water with infrastructure, put chemicals into it, and use it for micro- biological waste. Human interference has played a big part in the development of antibiotic resistance. We need to pay more attention to our relationship with water. Now.' WATER & HEALTH DOSSIER 10 Water: we can't manage without it but, it can sometimes make us ill. This is a complex and intimate relationship that we often disturb unintentionally. Lora Fleming, director of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, describes the risks. 'More people die today in the developed world from resistant bacteria than from AIDS.' BY HARRIOT VONCKEN/ IMAGE ISTOCKPHOTO 'OUR ACTIONS ALWAYS HAVE UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES' Algal blooms in Lake Lucerne in Switzerland Lora Fleming Director of the European Centre For Environment and Human health