Effective Use of Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage in Response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

July 23, 2013 · 2 comments

Effective Use of Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage in Response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. American  Jnl Trop Med Hyg, July 8, 2013.

Daniele Lantagne* and Thomas Clasen

When water supplies are compromised during an emergency, responders often recommend household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) methods, such as boiling or chlorination. We evaluated the near- and longer-term impact of chlorine and filter products distributed shortly after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. HWTS products were deemed as effective to use if they actually improved unsafe household drinking water to internationally accepted microbiological water quality standards.

The acute emergency survey (442 households) was conducted within 8 weeks of emergency onset; the recovery survey (218 households) was conducted 10 months after onset. Effective use varied by HWTS product (from 8% to 63% of recipients in the acute phase and from 0% to 46% of recipients in the recovery phase). Higher rates of effective use were associated with programs that were underway in Haiti before the emergency, had a plan at initial distribution for program continuation, and distributed products with community health worker support and a safe storage container.

Developing and testing theory-based and evidence-based interventions to promote switching to arsenic-safe wells

July 23, 2013 · 1 comment

Developing and testing theory-based and evidence-based interventions to promote switching to arsenic-safe wells in Bangladesh. J Health Psychol. 2013 Jul 17.

Inauen J, Mosler HJ. University of Konstanz, Germany.

Millions of people in Bangladesh drink arsenic-contaminated water despite increased awareness of consequences to health. Theory-based and evidence-based interventions are likely to have greater impact on people switching to existing arsenic-safe wells than providing information alone. To test this assumption, we first developed interventions based on an empirical test of the Risk, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities and Self-regulation (RANAS) model of behaviour change.

In the second part of this study, a cluster-randomised controlled trial revealed that in accordance with our hypotheses, information alone showed smaller increases in switching to arsenic-safe wells than information with reminders or information with reminders and implementation intentions.

Preliminary Study on Efficacy of Leaves, Seeds and Bark Extracts of Moringa oleifera in Reducing Bacterial load in Water

July 23, 2013 · 1 comment

Preliminary Study on Efficacy of Leaves, Seeds and Bark Extracts of Moringa oleifera in Reducing Bacterial load in Water. International Journal of Advanced Research (2013), Volume 1, Issue 4, 124-130

Arafat M. Goja and Mohamed S. Osman

Water quality and treatment are the most important issue in everywhere, especially in the developing countries, where safe and clean water is not continuously provided. Moringa oleifera is one of the best natural coagulants that has effectively used in water treatments. The aqueous extract of seeds, leaves and bark of Moringa oleifera was evaluated for their efficacy in reducing total bacterial load, coliform count and faecal coliform counts in the treatment of drinking water. The standard pour plate method and the most probable numbers were used in the determination of bacterial count.

The seed extracts showed a great effective in the reduction of total coliform count (55.9%) and faecal coliform count (92.5 %) as compared to bark (45.0 and 90.7 %) and leaf (47.1 and 88.7 %) extracts at 3g/100ml, respectively. From the results from this study, it can be concluded that the Moringa oleifera extracts (seed extracts) can be used as safe as non-toxic natural coagulant materials in household water treatment, especially in rural areas and small communities where no adequate and safe water supply is provided.

A cluster-randomized trial assessing the impact of school water, sanitation and hygiene improvements on pupil enrolment and gender parity

July 23, 2013 · 0 comments

A cluster-randomized trial assessing the impact of school water, sanitation and hygiene improvements on pupil enrolment and gender parity in enrolment. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, June 2013.

Joshua V. Garn, et al.

We employed a cluster-randomized trial design to measure the impact of a school-based water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) improvement on pupil enrolment and on gender parity in enrolment, in primary schools in Nyanza Province, Kenya (2007–2009). Among schools with poor water access during the dry season, those that received a water supply, hygiene promotion and water treatment (HP&WT) and sanitation improvement demonstrated increased enrolment (β = 0.091 [0.009, 0.173] p = 0.03), which translates to 26 additional pupils per school on average.

The proportion of girls enrolled in school also increased by 4% (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.04 [1.00, 1.07] p = 0.02). Among schools with better baseline water access during the dry season (schools that didn’t receive a water source), we found no evidence of increased enrolment in schools that received a HP&WT intervention (β = 0.016 [–0.039, 0.072] p = 0.56) or the HP&WT and sanitation intervention (β = 0.027 [–0.028, 0.082] p = 0.34), and there was no evidence of improved gender parity (PR = 0.99 [0.96, 1.02] p = 0.59, PR = 1.00 [0.97, 1.02] p = 0.75, respectively).

Our findings suggest that increased school enrolment and improved gender parity may be influenced by a comprehensive WASH programme that includes an improved water source; schools with poor water access during the dry season may benefit most from these interventions.

Biopolymer-reinforced synthetic granular nanocomposites for affordable point-of-use water purification

July 23, 2013 · 1 comment

Biopolymer-reinforced synthetic granular nanocomposites for affordable point-of-use water purification. Proceedings of the NAS, May 2013.

Mohan Udhaya Sankar, et al.

Creation of affordable materials for constant release of silver ions in water is one of the most promising ways to provide microbially safe drinking water for all. Combining the capacity of diverse nanocomposites to scavenge toxic species such as arsenic, lead, and other contaminants along with the above capability can result in affordable, all-inclusive drinking water purifiers that can function without electricity.

The critical problem in achieving this is the synthesis of stable materials that can release silver ions continuously in the presence of complex species usually present in drinking water that deposit and cause scaling on nanomaterial surfaces. Here we show that such constant release materials can be synthesized in a simple and effective fashion in water itself without the use of electrical power. The nanocomposite exhibits river sand-like properties, such as higher shear strength in loose and wet forms.

These materials have been used to develop an affordable water purifier to deliver clean drinking water at US $2.5/y per family. The ability to prepare nanostructured compositions at near ambient temperature has wide relevance for adsorption-based water purification.

WEDC – The three-pot water treatment system

July 23, 2013 · 1 comment

The three-pot water treatment system, 2013.

WEDC.

The simplest method of treatment is storage in a covered pot. If the water can be stored for at least two days, schistosomes (small larvae which cause bilharzia) will die. It will also contain considerably fewer bacteria because these slowly die off because the conditions in the pot are not normally suit able for their survival and multiplication. Pathogens (i.e. disease causing organisms including some types of bacteria) attached to suspended solids will settle to the bottom of the tank together with the solids, further purifying the stored water.

Ecofiltro Water Filter: Delivering Water with Minimal Environmental Footprint

July 22, 2013 · 0 comments

Ecofiltro Water Filter: Delivering Water with Minimal Environmental Footprint | Source

This case study is developed by PRé especially for the winner of the first SBIO (Sustainable Brands Innovation Open)

The Challenge: Guatemala-based start-up ecofiltro developed a simple water filter that provides clean drinking water. For placing first at the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) competition, held at the Sustainable Brands ’12 Conference (San Diego, CA) in June 2012, ecofiltro was offered the services of PRé North America to conduct a lifecycle assessment (LCA) of its product, as well as a comparison to two alternative methods of water purification.

The Products: Three water purification systems were analyzed and compared, based on the water consumption of a typical Guatemalan family in one year (2,920 liters of potable water).  

The scope of the study is “cradle to delivery,” which includes raw material extraction through delivery to the consumer. The analysis for all three methods includes raw material extraction, manufacturing, and distribution to the consumer.

Results: Ecofiltro’s climate change impacts are less than 1% of the impacts from consuming the same amount of bottled water, and 35% of the impacts of boiled water.

  • DOWNLOAD HERE THE COMPLETE CASE STUDY
  • About Ecofiltro

    • Using innovative technologies to measure behavior change in public health programs

    July 15, 2013 · 1 comment

    Using innovative technologies to measure behavior change in public health programs – Mercy Corps Indonesia recently partnered with Portland State University’s SWEETLab to pilot remotely reporting sensors for measuring the use of water and sanitation facilities in poor urban neighborhoods. This paper compares findings from the sensors to traditional evaluation methods and suggests some powerful possibilities for understanding program effectiveness.

    INSTRUMENTED MONITORING WITH TRADITIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EVALUATION METHODS: An application to a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program in Jakarta, Indonesia, 2013.

    Evan A. Thomas, Kay Mattson.

    This paper presents the findings from two complementary approaches to field evaluation of a water, sanitation and hygiene program conducted by Mercy Corps in Indonesia. The program under study installed hand washing stations and latrines at a number of sites across greater Jakarta, and conducted extensive behavior change programs to encourage use of the latrines and hand washing after utilization of latrines.

    A public health evaluation was conducted at the end of the program, and found a high degree of self-reported compliance with the desired behaviors. A year later (and after the program’s end), instruments were installed that directly monitored hand washing water taps and latrine use, and correlated sanitation facility use against water use at hand washing taps. These results suggest a significantly lower behavior change than earlier estimated in the studied communities. This insight allowed further review of the survey results, and incorporation of the combined data sets into thoughtful review of behavior change efforts.

    This paper illustrates that instrumented monitoring systems can provide organizations with a data collection method that can greatly enhance their capacity to measure behavior change in global health programs. Mercy Corps, like other development organizations, invests significant resources in water and sanitation infrastructure and behavior change programs, as well as in monitoring and evaluation staff time. Mercy Corps is also aware of the limitations of self-reported survey data, which can be biased, as beneficiaries may have a tendency to report desired results rather than actual practices.

    Using instrumentation with remote data access may have the potential to enhance data collection and complement survey and observation methods as well as monitor specific program components over longer periods of time than surveys allow, at a lower per-sample cost, while more directly and objectively measuring behavior and reducing self-reporting bias.

    Instrumentation, with its own limitations including difficulty in discriminating details of behavior, as well as cellular data costs and nontrivial data analysis methods, is not a replacement for survey tools. Rather, it may supplement traditional evaluation methods. Combining remote sensing evaluation tools with traditional evaluation methods may enable programs to have both objective quantifiable data, along with qualitative data from beneficiaries about their knowledge and practices associated with the desired behaviors that could serve to better inform and improve overall program outcomes.

    Water nanofilter ‘could cut diarrhoea-related deaths’

    July 10, 2013 · 2 comments

    Water nanofilter ‘could cut diarrhoea-related deaths’ | Source: Scidev.net, June 2013

    Speed read

    • The device emits silver ions to kill water-based microbes
    • It may be able to provide safe drinking water to families in rural areas for US$2.50 a year
    • The units are being installed in water treatment plants in the Indian state of West Bengal

    Indian scientists have developed a cheap filter that can rid drinking water of the bacterial and viral contaminants responsible for hundreds of thousands of diarrhoea-related deaths in developing countries each year.

    They say that their device can deliver safe drinking water to families in rural areas for just US$2.50 a year, including both the cost of the device and running costs. Their work was published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month (6 May).

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    Quality of Piped and Stored Water in Households with Children Under Five Years of Age

    July 10, 2013 · 0 comments

    Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Jul 8.

    Quality of Piped and Stored Water in Households with Children Under Five Years of Age Enrolled in the Mali Site of the Global Enteric Multi-Center Study (GEMS).

    Baker KK, Sow S, Kotloff KL, Nataro JP, Farag TH, Tamboura B, Doumbia M, Sanogo D, Diarra D, O’Reilly CE, Mintz E, Panchalingam S, Wu Y, Blackwelder WC, Levine MM.

    Center for Vaccine Development, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland; Centre pour le Développement des Vaccins du Mali (CVD-Mali), Centre National d’Appui à la Lutte Contre la Maladie (ex-Institut Marchoux), Bamako, Mali; Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia.

    Abstract – Water, sanitation, and hygiene information was collected during a matched case-control study of moderate and severe diarrhea (MSD) among 4,096 children < 5 years of age in Bamako, Mali. Primary use of piped water (conditional odds ratio [cOR] = 0.45; 0.34-0.62), continuous water access (cOR = 0.30; 0.20-0.43), fetching water daily (cOR = 0.77; 0.63-0.96), and breastfeeding (cOR = 0.65; 0.49-0.88) significantly reduced the likelihood of MSD. Fetching water in > 30 minutes (cOR = 2.56; 1.55-4.23) was associated with MSD.

    Piped tap water and courier-delivered water contained high (> 2 mg/L) concentrations of free residual chlorine and no detectable Escherichia coli. However, many households stored water overnight, resulting in inadequate free residual chlorine (< 0.2 mg/L) for preventing microbial contamination. Coliforms and E. coli were detected in 48% and 8% of stored household water samples, respectively. Although most of Bamako’s population enjoys access to an improved water source, water quality is often compromised during household storage.

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