threatening public health

[rainous]

Is it also OK to put "the" in front of "public health"?

If so, how should I understand the usage of "the" in this context?

THanks

[emsr2d2]

Is it also OK to put "the" in front of "public health"?

If so, how should I understand the usage of "the" in this context?

THanks

Please give us an example sentence with "the public health" and we'll comment.

[rainous]

Please give us an example sentence with "the public health" and we'll comment.

It's about water pollution doing two things: rising the cost of utilizing water and threatening public health.

If I were to put "the", would I be doing something ungrammatical?

[emsr2d2]

It's about water pollution doing two things: rising the cost of utilizing water and threatening public health.

If I were to put "the", would I be doing something ungrammatical?

It would be unnatural. "Public health" is usually uncountable and so doesn't attract an article.

If you wanted to use "the" you would say "...utilising water and threatening the health of the public." However, "...threatening public health" sounds much better.

For info, it would be "raising (not rising) the cost of using water".