Center for Water and Health| History

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History

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health traces its commitment to water-related public health issues to Abel Wolman, a pioneer in the field of water treatment. In 1919, the Johns Hopkins-trained engineer, with chemist Linn H. Enslow, developed a reliable formula for chlorine disinfection of water, revolutionizing water treatment in the twentieth century. Wolman, who traveled the world advising foreign governments on chemical water treatment, joined the School faculty in 1936 as founder and chair of the Department of Sanitary Engineering, a position he held for 25 years.

Abel’s son, M. Gordon “Reds” Wolman, followed in his father’s footsteps, but took a different path. A former director of the School’s Environmental Health Engineering Division, Wolman is internationally known for his research on how rivers and other water systems evolve and shape the landscape.

During the 1960s and 1970s, leading water experts in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences included Cornelius W. Kruse´, a sanitary engineer and chair of the Department who served on several World Health Organization environment-related committees; Kazuyoshi “Kaz” Kawata, a global expert in environmental engineering and environmental health; and environmental microbiologist Vincent P. Oliveri.

More than ten years ago, the Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health began to take shape at the Bloomberg School under Environmental Health Sciences chair John Groopman. He looked to “Reds” Wolman to help recruit the best scientists in water and public health as the core of the initiative to meet the challenges of water needs in the 21st century. The founding of the Center in 2000 illustrates the School’s commitment to groundbreaking science, unparalleled education and innovative policy in water issues.

Research Projects

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Click on the projects map to learn about the Center’s current work—from developing simple techniques to identify minute pathogenic viruses that escape conventional means of detection to assessing the human health risk posed by a parasite that infects Chesapeake Bay oysters to testing in-home water treatments for isolated populations who lack safe drinking water.

Collaborators

The Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health welcomes inquiries from foundations, public agencies and private sector concerns with an interest in forging partnerships to translate Center research on water and public health into innovative, evidence-based applications.