scholarly journals Coping with poor water supplies: empirical evidence from Kathmandu, Nepal

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hari Katuwal ◽  
Alok K. Bohara

The authors examined the demand for clean drinking water using treatment behaviors in Kathmandu, Nepal. Water supply is inadequate, unreliable and low quality. Households engage in several strategies to cope with the unreliable and poor quality of water supplies. Some of the major coping strategies are hauling, storing, and point-of-use treatment. Boiling, filtering, and use of Uro-guard are some of the major treatment methods. Using Water Survey of Kathmandu, the authors estimated the effect of wealth, education, information, gender, caste/ethnicity and opinion about water quality on drinking water treatment behaviors. The results show that people tend to increase boiling and then filtering instead of only one method if they are wealthier. In addition, people boil and then filter instead of boiling only and filtering only if they think that water delivered to the tap is dirty. Exposure to information has the strongest effect in general for the selection of all available treatment modes.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anthony Byrne ◽  
Pilar A. Fernandez-Ibañez ◽  
Patrick S. M. Dunlop ◽  
Dheaya M. A. Alrousan ◽  
Jeremy W. J. Hamilton

It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to improved water supplies. Many more are forced to rely on supplies that are microbiologically unsafe, resulting in a higher risk of waterborne diseases, including typhoid, hepatitis, polio, and cholera. Due to poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water, there are around 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year resulting in 2.2 million deaths, most of these are children under five. While conventional interventions to improve water supplies are effective, there is increasing interest in household-based interventions to produce safe drinking water at an affordable cost for developing regions. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a simple and low cost technique used to disinfect drinking water, where water is placed in transparent containers and exposed to sunlight for 6 hours. There are a number of parameters which affect the efficacy of SODIS, including the solar irradiance, the quality of the water, and the nature of the contamination. One approach to SODIS enhancement is the use of semiconductor photocatalysis to produce highly reactive species that can destroy organic pollutants and inactivate water pathogens. This paper presents a critical review concerning semiconductor photocatalysis as a potential enhancement technology for solar disinfection of water.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Gundry ◽  
James A. Wright ◽  
Ronan Conroy ◽  
Martella Du Preez ◽  
Bettina Genthe ◽  
...  

Aims: To assess contamination of drinking water in rural Zimbabwe and South Africa Methods: We conducted a cohort study of 254 children aged 12-24 months in rural South Africa and Zimbabwe. In dry and wet seasons, we measured water quality, using the indicator organism E. coli, at improved and unimproved sources, in household storage and drinking cups. We also recorded hygiene and socio-economic factors for each household. Results: For improved sources, samples with E. coli counts less than 10 cfu/100ml were as follows: at source: 165 (88%); in household storage 137 (59%); in drinking cups 91 (49%). The corresponding values for unimproved sources were: source 47 (29%); household storage 32 (19%); drinking cups 21 (18%). This significant deterioration in microbial quality of water from improved sources was seen in both countries and both survey rounds. Conclusion: Although improved sources generally delivered ‘safe’ water at the point-of-supply, 12% of source samples were contaminated and as such were ‘unsafe’. Furthermore, in household storage, more than 40% of samples were ‘unsafe’. For monitoring the Millennium Development Goal for water, UNICEF-WHO are assuming an equivalence between ‘improved’ sources and ‘safe’ water. Our findings suggest that this equivalence may be unsound.


Author(s):  
Khalid Mahmood ◽  
Muhammad Asim

A comprehensive study for the spatial distribution of drinking water quality had been conductedfor residential area of Lahore, Pakistan. The study had made use of the geographic information system(GIS) for geographical representation and spatial analysis of groundwater quality. Physicochemicalparameters including electric conductivity, pH, TDS, Cl, Mg, Ca, alkalinity and bicarbonates from 73 ofthe water samples had been included in the analysis. Water quality data had been geo-referenced followedby its interpolation using inverse distance weighted (IDW) for each of the parameters. Very high alkalinityand bicarbonates values were observed in most parts of the area. For the comprehensive view, water qualityindex map had been prepared using weighted overlay analysis (WOA). The water quality index map wasclassified into five zones of excellent, good, poor, very poor and unfit for drinking as per WHO standardsof drinking water. 21% region had excellent quality of the underground water and 50% was found goodfor drinking. Poor quality of water was found in southeastern part, covering 27% of the study area. Only2% of the area was found under the very poor and unfit water quality conditions for drinking.


1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-341
Author(s):  
Gerhard Bjørnsen ◽  
Rolf Gimbel ◽  
Hans-Dieter Spangenberg

To guarantee drinking water of high quality not only the drinking water treatment must be of high standards but also the quality of water resources should be the best possible. Therefore, pollution control and pollution risk management in the catchment areas of water resources are important parts of an overall water management concept. This includes the assessment of physical and chemical parameters as well as bacteriological parameters, especially hygienic parameters. A concept for an integrative consideration of drinking water treatment and quality management of water resources is presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Yusbely Cecilia Castrillón-Jaimes ◽  
Carlos Humberto Acevedo-Peñaloza ◽  
Jhan Piero Rojas-Suárez

The quality of water for human consumption in the municipality of Los Patios in Colombia, depends 60% of the treatment systems for drinking water (STAP) independent, these are adapted according to the population that conforms in 2014 and own resources. Urbanization San Fernando carries out the treatment in an efficient way guaranteeing the quality of water for human consumption, therefore, the field study is based on a quantitative approach and a method that describes the results of the analysis of the samples taken at the entrance and exit of the STAP, to evaluate the efficiency and quality of the system the sample is characterized from the analysis of the physical-chemical and microbiological parameters at the entrance and exit of the system in the Water Laboratory of the Universidad Francisco de Paula de Santander. The physical and microbiological results identify the efficiency of the system and the operator, indicating the quality of the water by the values in the parameters measured according to Decree 1575 of 2007 and 1525 of 2007 by the Ministry of Social Protection in Colombia. The chemical analyses detected a high percentage of calcium hardness in the sample at the system outlet, which is reportedto the directors of the urbanization. In accordance with this, the relevant controls and monitoring are carried out in the process for the purification and consumption of water, without neglecting the habits of water storage by the community in each home.


Author(s):  
I. B. Bwatanglang ◽  
E. Yonnana ◽  
Lynna D. Ibrahim ◽  
Abdulrahman I. Kubo ◽  
B. K. Elijah ◽  
...  

This research aimed at assessing the drinking water quality of piped water distribution in Jimeta-Yola Adamawa State, Nigeria. The strategy was based on establishing the possibilities of contaminants underlying the distribution channels compromising the quality from the treatment source to the consumer point of use. Selected heavy metals and physiological parameters were determined toward establishing the water quality indices (WQI). Though, most of the parameter determined fell below or within the permissible limits (PL) set by WHO for drinking water, the results indicated significant (p<0.05) differences in the concentrations determined in the treatment plants (Yola treatment plant (YTP) and Jimeta treatment plant (JMTP)) with those at the consumer endpoints (YTPC and JMTPC). The results showed the WQI at the treatment plants being compromised due to the induction of pollutants across the distribution pipes. The water samples at the treatment point (JMTP) were excellent, having WQI <25 and good quality at YTP (25< WQI<50). However, the water quality on leaving the treatment source was observed to slightly change to poor quality at JMTPC (WQI= 57.00), and further observed to be in moderate-good quality at YTPC (WQI=49.27). Further analysis showed an increase in bacterial counts in the water samples at the consumer points.  Escherichia coli concentrations of 565 and 718 cfu /100 mL were detected in samples from YTPC and JMTPC, despite the fact the water was observed to be free from bacteria at the treatment plants.


2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 628-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Onyango-Ouma ◽  
Charles P. Gerba

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to examine away-from-home drinking water consumption practices and the microbiological quality of water consumed in rural western Kenya. The study involved adults and schoolchildren. Data were collected using focus group discussions, questionnaire survey, observations, diaries and interviews. The findings suggest that away-from-home drinking water consumption is a common practice in the study area; however, the microbiological quality of the water consumed is poor. While some respondents perceive the water to be safe for drinking mainly because of the clear colour of the water, others are forced by circumstances to drink the water as it is owing to a lack of alternative safe sources. It is concluded that there is a need for new innovative approaches to address away-from-home drinking water consumption in resource-poor settings in order to complement and maximize the benefits of point-of-use water treatment at the household level.


Author(s):  
Adeshina S. Adebanjo

Abstract. The quality of drinking water is dependent of its source(s) and means of collection. The water available for drinking in the study area is accessible through groundwater exploration. This research was carried out to determine the quality of water from the selected boreholes within the university and checked by the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standards for the various parameters considered. Samples were gotten from seven (7) of the sited boreholes and various physico-chemical parameter tests such as turbidity test, conductivity test, pH test, copper test, manganese test, chloride test, sulphate test, chromium test, nitrate test and cadmium test and bacteriological tests as total plate count, total coliform count and faecal coliform count were carried out following due procedure, precautions and the results analyzed. The results show that most samples were satisfactory for the tests carried out while only two (samples from Behind Admin and Engineering) were unsatisfactory in turbidity while one sample (sample from Back of College 2) was unsatisfactory in the cadmium test. WQI showed that the water samples had excellent qualities except for that from Back of College 2 which had poor quality and is unsuitable consumption.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng

Quality of produced water is usually the criterion for selecting between different desalination technologies for turning seawater into drinking water. However, contemporary trend in drinking water treatment sees a convergence between different technologies for the same water quality. Hence, how do different desalination technologies differentiate amongst each other? Awareness of climate change impact as well as price of produced water, energy use per unit of treated water is an oft-used criterion for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of different desalination technologies. Specifically, comparing multi-effect flash evaporation and reverse osmosis, the latter enjoys a significant energy use advantage given the lack of the need for converting water into the vapor phase as in multi-effect flash evaporation. Thus, energy used in producing drinking water is significantly higher in multi-effect flash evaporation compared to the high pressure process of reverse osmosis. From the operation perspective, reverse osmosis also benefits from its ability to scale linearly in increasing water production capacity through addition of extra membrane modules, which is not the case for multi-effect flash evaporation where a new distillation column is required for significant increase in production capacity. Collectively, with the same quality of water produced by different desalination technologies, comparison between different technologies increasingly relies on the energy use per unit of produced water. Using this criterion, reverse osmosis membrane desalination has a significant advantage relative to multi-effect flash evaporation in energy cost, which translates to a lower price of produced water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 258 ◽  
pp. 08018
Author(s):  
Anna Zaytseva ◽  
Olga Brel ◽  
Kirill Makarov

Many regions of Russian Federation have serious problems with water supply. Despite the significant water resource potential, including ground, surface and mineral waters, not all the population of the Kemerovo region is provided with clean drinking water. Besides the location of heavy industry enterprises, especially coal mines and pits, within the boundaries of river basins affects the condition and quality of water from different water sources. The purpose of this paper is to provide a research of clean drinking water providing the population of the Kemerovo region-Kuzbass, formulate the main problems and identify possible areas of activity in the field of increasing the availability of clean drinking water for the population of Kemerovo region-Kuzbass.


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