In pursuit of sustainable water solutions in emerging regions

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R. Brunson ◽  
Lowell W. Busenitz ◽  
David A. Sabatini ◽  
Paul Spicer
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Market Development ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Water Solutions ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
Cultural Assessment

While lack of access to consistent safe drinking water is estimated to affect nearly 2 billion people worldwide, many of the efforts to solve this crisis have proven to be unsustainable. This paper discusses some of the reasons for these challenges and suggests interdisciplinary practices that could be integrated from the very beginning of a water intervention to achieve long-term success. Of key importance for sustainable water implementation is an enabling environment that incorporates aspects such as funding, potential for market development, and supportive governance. While this enabling environment is acknowledged, the focus of this work is on the integration of three key areas: (i) social and cultural assessment of behavior and preferences; (ii) market-based implementation approaches that draw on this knowledge; and (iii) technology development for these markets.

Microbiological requirements for safe drinking water production at a large river impacted by human wastewater: a scenario analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalin Demeter ◽  
Julia Derx ◽  
Jürgen Komma ◽  
Juraj Parajka ◽  
Jack Schijven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Large River ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Reference Scenario ◽  
Safe Drinking Water

<p><strong>Background</strong>: Rivers are important sources for drinking water supply, however, they are often impacted by wastewater discharges from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and combined sewer overflows (CSO). Reduction of the faecal pollution burden is possible through enhanced wastewater treatment or prevention of CSOs. Few methodological efforts have been made so far to investigate how these measures would affect the long-term treatment requirements for microbiologically safe drinking water supply under future changes.</p><p><strong>Objectives</strong>: This study aimed to apply a new integrative approach to decipher the interplay between the effects of future changes and wastewater management measures on the required treatment of river water to produce safe drinking water. We investigated scenarios of climate change and population growth, in combination with different wastewater management scenarios (i.e., no upgrades and upgrades at WWTPs, CSOs, and both). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this interplay. We focussed on the viral index pathogens norovirus and enterovirus and made a cross-comparison with a bacterial and a protozoan reference pathogen (Campylobacter and Cryptosporidium).</p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: We significantly extended QMRAcatch (v1.0 Python), a probabilistic-deterministic model that combines virus fate and transport modelling in the river with quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). To investigate the impact of climatic changes, we used a conceptual semi-distributed hydrological model and regional climate model outputs to simulate river discharges for the period 2035 – 2049. We assumed that population growth leads to a corresponding increase in WWTP discharges. QMRAcatch was successfully calibrated and validated based on a four-year dataset of a human-associated genetic MST marker and enterovirus. The study site was the Danube in Vienna, Austria.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: In the reference scenario, approx. 98% of the enterovirus and norovirus loads at the study site (median: 10<sup>10</sup> and 10<sup>13</sup> N/d) originated from WWTP effluent, while the remainder was via CSO events. The required log reduction value (LRV) to produce safe drinking water was 6.3 and 8.4 log<sub>10</sub> for enterovirus and norovirus. Future changes in population size, river flows and CSO events did not affect these treatment requirements, and neither did the prevention of CSOs. In contrast, in the scenario of enhanced wastewater treatment, which showed lower LRVs by 2.0 and 1.3 log<sub>10</sub>, climate-change-driven increases in CSO events had a considerable impact on the treatment requirements, as they affected the main pollution source. Preventing CSOs and installing enhanced treatment at the WWTPs together had the most significant positive effect with a reduction of LRVs by 3.9 and 3.8 log<sub>10</sub> compared to the reference scenario.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: The integrative modelling approach was successfully realised. The simultaneous consideration of source apportionment and concentrations of the reference pathogens were found crucial to understand the interplay among the effects of climate change, population growth and pollution control measures. The approach was demonstrated for a study site representing a large river impacted by WWTP and CSO discharges, but is applicable at other sites to support long term water safety planning.</p>

scholarly journals Assessing the Effects of Access to Safe Drinking Water on Children’s Nutritional Status in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Ryota Nakamura ◽  
◽  
Takumi Kondo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Nutritional Status Of Children

This study analyzed the effects of access to safe drinking water on the nutritional status of children under the age of 59 months in urban and rural areas in Indonesia using the Indonesian Family Life Survey 5. Both piped water and packaged water were considered safe to drink. The descriptive statistics show that children in rural areas typically had insufficient access to safe drinking water and children who consumed safe drinking water had higher short- and long-term nutrition levels. To mitigate selection bias due to the non-random distribution of access to safe drinking water, a matching estimation was used to quantitatively determine the effects of access to safe drinking water on child nutrition. The provision of safe drinking water improved the short- and long-term nutritional status of children in rural areas but had no significant effect to that of children in urban areas. A simulation of this effect on child nutrition shows that in rural areas, improved access to safe drinking water decreases the stunting ratio by 13 percentage points and the wasting ratio by 6.1 percentage points. Additionally, both household income levels and community drinking water prices are important determinants of access to safe drinking water. Therefore, access to safe drinking water is necessary to improve the nutritional status of children in rural Indonesia, and community characteristics contribute to access.

Toxicological Basis for Drinking Water: Unreasonable Risk to Health Values

1992 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-329
Author(s):  
Jennifer Orme Zavaleta
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Health Effect ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Adverse Health Effect ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Health Values ◽  
Population Sensitivity

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to ensure that the water obtained from a public water supply is safe to drink. Under the SDWA, EPA establishes enforceable maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for contaminants that may have an adverse health effect and are known or anticipated to occur in water. Occasionally, public water supplies are unable to meet the MCL at the time it becomes enforceable. The SDWA allows public water supplies to apply to the State for a temporary variance or exemption from an MCL(s) as long as the concentration of the contaminant(s) exceeding the MCL(s) does not result in an unreasonable risk to human health. EPA has developed guidance to assist States in determining what level above the MCL presents an unreasonable health risk. In developing this guidance, the toxicity exhibited by each regulated contaminant is evaluated individually. Consideration is also given to the available risk assessments (short-term and long-term) for each contaminant, comparing carcinogenic risks with noncarcinogenic assessments. Other factors that may be considered on a contaminant by contaminant basis include for example, past exposure and expected duration of the variance or exemption period, population sensitivity, and volatilization of the contaminant from drinking water.

ANALYSIS OF ABDOMINAL TYPHOID INCIDENCE IN THE SOUTH REGION OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Zakirova J.S. ◽  
Nadirbekova R.A. ◽  
Zholdoshev S.T.
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Typhoid Fever ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
The Body ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Radiation Factor ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Immunological Deficiency

The article analyze the long-term morbidity, spread of typhoid fever in the southern regions of the Kyrgyz republic, and remains a permanent epidemic focus in the Jalal-Abad region, where against the low availability of the population to high-quality drinking water, an additional factor on the body for more than two generations and radiation factor, which we confirmed by the spread among the inhabitants of Mailuu-Suu of nosological forms of the syndrome of immunological deficiency, as a predictor of risk groups for infectious diseases, including typhoid fever.

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