The desiccating agent is a bacteria, which means it's organic life. What would stop the people of Earth from simply boiling their water before consumption (which was the common practice to avoid nasty things like dysentery prior to the advent of advanced filtration), killing the bacteria?
For that matter, how would the bacterium make it past the water treatment plants, many of which are designed to thermally and chemically treat water meant for human consumption of most microbes?
