Climate Change and Fecal Peril

Fecal peril caused by intestinal parasites is commonly reported to be causing health problems in the world. Furthermore, global climate change is inevitable. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the health effects of climate change. Water shortage contribute to increase the pressure on regional water resources and force a greater number of people to use urban wastewater as an alternative for irrigation. Therefore, unsafe management and inappropriate wastewater use in urban agriculture is likely to be responsible of exacerbating the transmission of infectious diseases, including those caused by intestinal protozoa and helminths parasitic worms. It should be taken into account that waterborne diseases are influencedby climate change. The frequency and severity of intertwined extreme weather events driven by climate change are occurring worldwide and likely to cause epidemics of waterborne gastroenteritis. The association found between both rainfall, river flooding, and the majority of waterborne disease outbreaks was frequently proved to be preceded by climatic change events.

Waterborne Diseases Arising From Climate Change

As a result of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, increased floods and droughts, change in climate will affect biological, physical, and chemical components of water through different paths thus enhancing the risk of waterborne diseases. Identifying the role of weather in waterborne infection is a priority public health research issue as climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme precipitation and temperature events. This chapter provides evidence that precipitation and temperature can affect directly or indirectly water quality and consequently affect the health human. This chapter also highlights the complex relationship between precipitation or temperature and transmission of waterborne disease such as diarrheal disease, gastroenteritis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and cholera.

Groundwater Pollution in Bangladesh: A Review

Bangladesh relies mainly on groundwater for irrigation and drinking purposes. Groundwater, however, continuously polluted, is a major obstacle. Nowadays, Bangladesh is moving towards industrial revolution in a considerable speed. As part of this paper's attempt to analyze the groundwater pollution scenario in Bangladesh, specifically in the past two decades, about 100 articles, conference papers, and reports published in national and international journals and books were reviewed, as well as issues concerning pollution sources, health impact assessment, and future perspectives were discussed. The groundwater is contaminated by different contaminants, such as physico-chemicals, trace metals, and microbes. Human health is at great risk from arsenic (As) contamination; it is one of the biggest threats. The cancer risk and non-cancer risk of ingesting water are increased. On the other hand, a large number of peoples were affected due to waterborne diseases governed by microbial contamination. Geophysical and anthropogenic sources, the depth of wells, and geographical factors may influence groundwater pollution. It is recommended that policy makers should address the issue immediately and precautions should be taken wherever necessary.

Access to water and sanitation in brazilian regions

The lack of urban planning combined with the disorderly occupation of large urban centers results in the lack of sanitation services. This condition generates harmful impacts on social well-being and natural resources. The water crisis in Brazilian regions imposed by the serious pollution of water bodies triggers a series of conflicts related to water scarcity and multiple uses. The present study aims to verify the consequences in the generation of diseases in the face of sanitation conditions in Brazilian regions. The method used in this work is descriptive with a qualitative approach. Indicators related to the share of the population with access to water and sewage collection and hospitalizations due to waterborne diseases in the Brazilian regions were analyzed. The sanitation indicators are intended to measure the impacts generated and provide information that can help in the management and sustainable use of water resources in order to establish priority actions for public policies. As a result, it is observed that the issue of universal sanitation that emerges from this discussion should be of interest to the national policy agenda, considering the negative externalities arising from the lack of this service. This argument is based on promoting the dignity of human life as advocated by the 2030 Agenda. It is important to highlight the implications of the precariousness of access to water and sanitation in the context of productive activities and income generation, since the health of workers in the regions most deprived of these services tends to be precarious.

Disaster and Education: Impact of Flood on School Going Children at Keshabpur Upazilla in Bangladesh

Introduction: Presently, there has been an emergent concern that rising numbers of the world’s population are deserted due to the undesirable impacts of natural hazards, especially floods. Geographically, Bangladesh is a low-lying flood plain country with only a few hills in the south-east and the north-east part. Undoubtedly, education is a principal factor of socio-economic development, but regrettably, Bangladesh is suffering from the uncontainable effects of floods. After considering such issues, the foremost focus of this study was to recognize both the academic challenges faced by school-going children during a flood and examine the impact of the flood on the health of the children. Methods: Interview schedule, questionnaire survey, and document analyses had been carried out for this study. The study design was carried out by applying a mixed method. Students of Biddanondokathi Government Primary School and Mangalkot Secondary School from Mirzapur village of Mangalkot union in Keshabpurupazilla were randomly selected. The well-structured questionnaires were disseminated to 80 respondents of two academic institutions of Keshabpurupazilla of Jashore district. Additionally, descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were conducted to attain research objectives. Results: The outcome of this study revealed that flood unswervingly impacts the academic routine and health status of school-going children. Almost 93.8% of students faced academic challenges and 87.5% of children were the victims of waterborne diseases like diarrhea, skin diseases, and dysentery. Almost 82% of respondents did not go to school as the roads were impassable, 28.8% of individuals faced problems due to washed away bridges, and 28.8% faced challenges as their school was surrounded by water. About 66.2% of children dropped out of school and 17.5% of students did not attend their classes at all after the flood. Conclusions: Not only school-going children but also infrastructure is the crucial victims of flood disasters, compromising the children’s rights to access to quality education, information, good sanitation, as well as their participation rights. Flood disasters have key impacts on children’s education and progress and this study suggests that strategies need to be adapted to attend to the disaster risks encountered by school-going children of Bangladesh.

Effects of hydrogen peroxide preoxidation on clarification and reduction of the microbial load of groundwater and surface water sources for household treatment

Household water treatment (HWT) technologies are a promising strategy for addressing the waterborne diseases burden. However, in order to be efficient, these are often limited to water quality and require it to not exceed a certain threshold of physicochemical and microbiological contamination. Additionally, some popular HWTs, as chlorination, are related to by-product formation. Preoxidation may improve source water quality, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an oxidant that has not been deeply explored in this specific application, so it could be an innovative approach to HWTs. We investigated effects of H2O2 preoxidation in two natural source waters (surface and groundwater), spiked with a high level of microorganisms. Clarification results suggested this pretreatment may improve life of HWTs. Reduction in microbial load of groundwater was considered ineffective, but 5-min H2O2 preoxidation at 15 mg L−1 led to >4.0 log10 inactivation of Phi X174 coliphage and >3.0 of Escherichia coli in surface water. We believe this performance was increased due to the presence of catalysts in the river water. This raised the point that water quality may be not only impairing, but potentially beneficial to the main HWT and characterization is crucial prior to the implementation of any technologies.

Potable Water Accessibility in the Slums of Douala IV Municipality, Cameroon

The proliferation of slums in sub-Saharan Africa validates the need for renewed interest on access to basic services–potable water in this case. In the context of Bonaberi Douala, recent evidence on potable water accessibility is lacking, amidst rising population growth. To close this knowledge gap, this paper draws from a sample of 1115 households in 8 neighborhoods of Bonaberi to: (1) assess potable water accessibility and (2) examine the regularity of water flow. The results revealed that only 51.3% of slum dwellers have pipe water connections, while 33.4% rely on public standpipes. Furthermore, 28.4% make use of boreholes, while 46% use rainwater. About 12.5% of the population cover a distance of more than 200 m to fetch water. The pattern of water flow in several neighbourhoods is irregular; this precipitates the spread of waterborne diseases. The paper recommends that a control committee should be set aside to check water quality and reduce the spread of water-related diseases. The government and other local stakeholders should promote community water projects that can supply potable water in these slums.

Synthesis and application of g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag nanocomposite for the efficient photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis bacteria in aqueous solutions

Contamination of water with bacteria is one of the main causes of waterborne diseases. The photocatalytic method on the basis of bacterial inactivation seems to be a suitable disinfectant due to the lack of by-products formation. Herein, g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag nanocomposite combined with UV-light irradiation was applied for the inactivation two well-known bacteria namely, E. coli and B. subtilis. The nanocomposite was prepared by a hydrothermal method, and subsequently it was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDX and PL analyses. The optimum conditions established for the inactivation of both bacteria were as follows: nanocomposite dosage 3 g/L and bacterial density of 103 CFU/mL. In the meantime, the efficient inactivation of E. coli and B. subtilis took 30 and 150 min, respectively. The results also revealed that inactivation rate dropped with an increase in the bacterial density. It is also pointed out that OH˚ was found out to be the main radical species involved in the inactivation process. Finally, the kinetic results indicated that the inactivation of E. coli and B. subtilis followed the Weibull model. It is concluded that C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag nanocomposite along with UV-light irradiation is highly effective in inactivating E. coli and B. subtilis bacteria in the aqueous solutions.

Bacteriological and Physico-chemical Qualities of Halabja Drinking Water

Water is crucial for all known forms of life without providing any calories or organic nutrients, while many people, especially in developing countries, may not be able to access pure and safe drinking water. They could lose their lives or become sick because waterborne diseases could contaminate the water, and when the chemical and/or physical properties of the water are not within the national and international standards. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate water quality of the Halabja drinking water and Sirwan river. Halabja city is located to north of Iraq, north-east of the capital Baghdad. Every week of the year 2019, apart from official holidays, water samples were collected from each of river and several areas (4-10 sections) in Halabja for the bacteriological analysis, while chemical and physical water quality was monthly checked. The results showed no detectable waterborne pathogens in all drinking water samples. Additionally, values of pH, turbidity, total dissolved substances, and electrical conductivity of the purified water samples had ranges of 7.97–8.5, 0.02-0.8 NTU, 246–362 mg/L, and 383–566 µS/cm, respectively. The treated drinking water was free of Free Residual Chlorine (FRC) and nitrite. The amounts of chloride, sulfate, and nitrate varied during the year 2019, with ranges of 48.2- 73.8, 36-141.5, and 1-5 mg/L, respectively. The values of water hardness and Ca+2 and Mg+2 concentrations ranged 132- 344, 48–89.5, and 2.2-29.2 mg/L, respectively. Based on the results, values of all the above parameters were within the Iraqi and the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standards, although the value of water hardness and the concentration of Ca+2 were near the upper limits of the standards, which might cause harm to the human body.

Narrative Review of Primary Preventive Interventions against Water-Borne Diseases: Scientific Evidence of Health-EDRM in Contexts with Inadequate Safe Drinking Water

Waterborne diseases account for 1.5 million deaths a year globally, particularly affecting children in low-income households in subtropical areas. It is one of the most enduring and economically devastating biological hazards in our society today. The World Health Organization Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (health-EDRM) Framework highlights the importance of primary prevention against biological hazards across all levels of society. The framework encourages multi-sectoral coordination and lessons sharing for community risk resilience. A narrative review, conducted in March 2021, identified 88 English-language articles published between January 2000 and March 2021 examining water, sanitation, and hygiene primary prevention interventions against waterborne diseases in resource-poor settings. The literature identified eight main interventions implemented at personal, household and community levels. The strength of evidence, the enabling factors, barriers, co-benefits, and alternative measures were reviewed for each intervention. There is an array of evidence available across each intervention, with strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of water treatment and safe household water storage. Studies show that at personal and household levels, interventions are effective when applied together. Furthermore, water and waste management will have a compounding impact on vector-borne diseases. Mitigation against waterborne diseases require coordinated, multi-sectoral governance, such as building sanitation infrastructure and streamlined waste management. The review showed research gaps relating to evidence-based alternative interventions for resource-poor settings and showed discrepancies in definitions of various interventions amongst research institutions, creating challenges in the direct comparison of results across studies.