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About 3.5 million people (including 3 million children) die worldwide due to water related diseases every year. Water-related diseases are the main cause of death in developing countries, which account for 98% of the total fatalities around the world. Diarrheal illnesses alone cause more than 1.5 million deaths annually making it a worse health threat than cancer or AIDs in terms of the death toll. In the United States, there have been at least 1870 outbreaks associated with drinking water from 1920 to 2002, causing more than 883,000 illnesses. Most of these outbreaks have been due to the presence of microbial pathogens in public drinking water. Cryptosporidium parvum and Rotavirus are pathogens usually associated with animal wastes and are common in the environment. These two pathogens have been recognized as frequently occurring microbial contaminants of water sources that can cause infection and diarrhea in many mammalian hosts, including humans. More than 403,000 residents in the Milwaukee area became ill with stomach cramps, fever, diarrhea and dehydration caused by an outbreak of Cryptosporidium parvum in 1993. It was the largest waterborne disease outbreak in documented United States history. Similarly, Rotavirus infection has been recognized as the most common cause of diarrhea in young children throughout the world.