Application of the Rural Water Sustainability Index (RWSI) in Amazon rural communities, Pará, Brazil

This paper proposes an adaptation of the Rural Water Sustainability Index (RWSI) to the Brazilian Amazon region. Policymakers can use this tool to identify areas of water stress and develop actions to guarantee water access to rural communities. Multi-criteria analysis and a geographical information system were integrated to incorporate various indicators and produce maps displaying spatial water sustainability levels in rural communities. The RWSI was employed on a case study at 16 rural communities in Santa Luzia do Pará, Pará, Brazil. In total, 380 closed and structured interviews were conducted with people living in the area to collect local information for the model application. The results showed a varied spatial behavior between rural communities of Santa Luzia do Pará, with similarities and differences based on the overall condition of water resources (final index values). Half of the locations had ‘Poor’ or ‘Poor-Medium’ water quality. The remaining sample obtained scores ranging from ‘Medium-Good’ to ‘Good’ water sustainability. RWSI’ scores varied widely (from 5.7 to 6.5) among the communities. It was also found that localities more distant from surface water presented more water stress.

Tensiones de la Gobernanza comunitaria de servicios sanitarios rurales en territorios periurbanos (Chile)

Unlike the private concession model applied in urban zones, rural water sanitation services in Chile are managed by rural drinking water (RDW) committees or cooperatives, under a community governance model. This article seeks to understand the tensions and conflicts faced by RDW community governance in the peri-urban territories of regional capitals, which are at the frontier of the private drinking water management model. Based on a political ecology and hybrid governance approach, this research proposes the hypothesis that, on facing urban expansion and water scarcity, the neoliberal institutional framework tends to favour drinking water market governance in peri-urban territories. With this aim, and through semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, focusing on three RDW cases located in the peri-urban zone of Talca, this study develops a critical discourse analysis of community managers and government regulators, identifying their perceptions and positions on current socio-ecological transformations, and community governance tensions. Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, from discourse analysis, it is possible to infer the potential risks of privatization, derived from the implementation of Law No. 20,998, which regulates rural water sanitation services.

Assessment of Impact Rainfall Variability on Water Supply in Ibadan South West Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

The effect of rainfall variability on water supply in Ibadan South West L.G.A was investigated in this study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. The result of the analysis shows that there is a weak positive relationship between annual rainfall received and the public water supply in the study area during the selected (2006-2020) years. The results obtained from the computation of correlation were used to test for the validity of the first hypothesis. It was discovered that water demand by each household is almost similar from zone to zone which shows that the people are with similar water needs with 52.92% of the population needing 401 to 600 liters of water per day while 10.48% consumes over 800 liters of water per day The result also shows that the calculated value (3.807) is greater than the tabulated value (2.167). Therefore we reject the null hypothesis which states that there is no relationship between rural water supply and rainfall variability in the study area to accept the alternative hypothesis which states that there is a relationship between rural water supply and rainfall variability in the study area confirming that water availability and water supply is vulnerable to climate change and rainfall variability. The study recommends that the people, civil society organizations, government as well as non-governmental organizations should rededicate their efforts of ameliorating the adverse effect of climatic change and rainfall variability on water supply through massive development of ground water sources and rain harvesting techniques.

Point-of-use upflow sand filter for rural water treatment using natural local sand: Understanding and predicting pressure drop

A simple, small scale upflow sand filter was fabricated using a locally obtained sands at three different rivers in Sabah, Malaysia: Liwagu River (SL), Tamparuli River (ST), and Kaingaran River (SK). The grain size, porosity, bulk density, particle density and sphericity of the sands were characterized to associate with the corresponding pressure drop across the sand bed. The highest pressure drop per unit length for SK, PT, and SL are 15.85 kPa m-1 at 0.747 m s-1 vs, 10.18 kPa m-1 at 0.352 m s-1 vs, and 9.24 kPa m-1 at 0.747 m s-1 vs, respectively. The pressure drop per unit length at different filter bed depth were plotted, and compared against three theoretical models of Ergun, Kozeny-Carman, and Fair and Hatch. By analyzing the experimental-theoretical comparison using RMSE and Chi-Test, prediction of pressure drop in an upflow sand filter is able to be predicted using the Kozeny-Carman equation preceding filter bed fluidization and subsequently Fair and Hatch’s equation after bed is fluidized.