Sanitary Survey of Public Drinking Water Sources: A Study Conducted in Slums of Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 2015. Health of the Urban Poor (HUP) Program.
Authors: Biraja Kabi Satapathy, Niladri Chakraborti.
The sanitary survey of drinking water sources was done in Bhubaneswar slums where PFI is running the Health of the Urban Poor Program. The purpose was to understand the risk to public drinking water sources based on onsite inspection and water testing of the source with field test for pipe water supply and H2 S bacteriological contamination test for all the sources. The study report gives details of the survey undertaken, its findings, and suggestions for ensuring drinking water quality in the slums of Odisha. The report tried to capture the result of the indicator-wise sanitary inspection and its relation with other indicators. We hope the study will be useful for the government for making some policy level corrections. We also hope that Government, Non Government and civil society organisations will adopt the sanitary survey as a tool for identifying factors that affect drinking water sources, which is essential for drinking water safety.
What factors affect sustained adoption of safe water, hygiene and sanitation technologies?A systematic review of literature, June 2015. EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, UCL Institute of Education, University College London.
Authors: Kristyna Hulland, Nina Martin, Robert Dreibelbis, Julia DeBruicker Valliant, Peter Winch
Among the exciting advances in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programmes and policies, sustainability counts as a renewed and crucial area of focus for implementers, scientists, policy makers, and donors alike. To further our understanding of the barriers and facilitators to sustained adoption and use of water and sanitation technologies, we conducted a systematic review of studies concerning both initial and sustained adoption of WASH interventions at the individual, household and community levels in low- and middleincome countries. We built on previous reviews of handwashing and point-of-use water treatment, with a comprehensive review that is dramatically larger and broader in scope than previous studies. It is the only review we know of that includes a range of WASH interventions and factors associated with adoption.
Fecal Coliform Contamination of Drinking Water: An Evaluation of World Field Assessment Techniques. EWB-USA Technical Paper 104.
Authors: William Fripp, Catherine Dane Woodyard, PhD, and Marina Hanna
A safe, consistent, and reliable water supply is a universal need. However, a large number of the world’s population lives in areas that are suffering from water quality problems and water shortages. Many areas have contaminated water with fecal coliform bacteria as the primary contaminant of concern. As a result, there are many aid groups that are actively working to develop and improve the water supply in the developing world.
An important first step in such work is an accurate appraisal of the existing water supply. This appraisal often requires a rapid, onsite field assessment of possible fecal coliform contamination with minimal equipment. This paper summarizes a qualitative evaluation of five field assessment techniques undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of students involved in aid work. The focus of this evaluation is on Presence/Absence testing.
The evaluation examines usability, accuracy, cost, speed of results, and ease of explaining results to the local population. Advantages and disadvantages of each technique have been identified and discussed. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance that will aid in the selection of a suitable rapid fecal coliform field test. The team performed their assessments of the five techniques in the United States under controlled situations, as well as during an evaluation trip to Belize.
All of the evaluations were conducted under the oversight of a professional engineer with experience in water quality assessments and water treatment design. This study and paper is of value to aid groups involved in the assessment of water projects in the developing world.
Household Water Quantity and Health: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12(6), 5954-5974
Authors: Rachel D. Stelmach and Thomas Clasen
While the quantity of water used in the home is thought to be an important determinant of health, much of the evidence relies on using water access as a proxy for quantity. This review examines the health effects of household water quantity using studies that directly measured water quantity.
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and article reference lists. Eligible studies included experimental and observational studies that measured a difference in water quantity and quantified an association between water quantity and health outcomes. 21 studies, divided into six of the many possible water-quantity associated outcomes, met the eligibility criteria. Due to heterogeneity in designs, settings, methods, and outcomes, a meta-analysis was inappropriate.
Overall results showed a positive association between water quantity and health outcomes, but the effect depended on how the water was used. Increased water usage for personal hygiene was generally associated with improved trachoma outcomes, while increased water consumption was generally associated with reduced gastrointestinal infection and diarrheal disease and improved growth outcomes.
In high-income countries, increased water consumption was associated with higher rates of renal cell carcinoma and bladder cancer but not associated with type II diabetes, cardiac-related mortality, or all-cause mortality.
USAID WASH and Nutrition Webinar, May 2015
Overcoming undernutrition is a great challenge that will require both WASH and nutrition interventions. 
USAID’s Elizabeth Jordan and Katherine Dennison discuss the connection between undernutrition and lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and highlight opportunities for integrated programming to achieve better health outcomes.
E. coli from dishcloths as an indicator of hygienic status in households. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development In Press, 2015 | doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.119
Authors: V. Keshav, A. Mathee, N. Naicker, A. Swart and T. G. Barnard
E. coli is routinely used as an indicator of fecal pollution although some strains are capable of causing diarrhea. E. coli was used as a model organism for this study to assess the possibility that dishcloths used in households could contribute to the occurrence of diarrhea. Dishcloths (n = 424) were collected from five suburbs in Johannesburg (South Africa) as part of a larger Health, Environment & Development (HEAD) study. Results for the total coliforms indicated that on average 81% of the samples analyzed had total coliform counts of more than 1,000 cfu/100 ml per 25 cm2 cloth.
The E. coli results indicated that 40% of the samples had culturable E. coli present with 17% of the samples showing the presence of >1,000 cfu/100 ml per 25 cm2 cloth. Except for the samples from Bertrams all the pathogenic E. coli genes could be detected in various combinations in the different samples. Since all the diarrheagenic E. coli strains detected can be accepted as culturable due to the enrichment step, there is a clear danger of contamination of food and surfaces exposed to the contaminated dishcloths. The results indicated that there is a need for public education regarding hygiene in the households, especially if the same dishcloth is used for various tasks.
Effect of common rooftop materials as support base for solar disinfection (SODIS) in rural areas under temperate climates. Solar Energy, May 2015.
Authors: M. Vivaa, M. Fuentes, J. Castro, R. García-Pacheco
Highlights
- Metal roofing and bamboo vegetable cover were studied as support materials for SODIS.
- Metal covers enhance SODIS due to high reflectivity & heat transfer properties.
- Maximum water temperatures differences in the bottles were of about 2.5 °C.
- SODIS processes starting at midday achieved faster inactivation.
Two common rooftop materials easily found in rural areas – zinc-coated metal sheet and bamboo cover – were studied to analyse their possible influence in the solar disinfection process by affecting the received UV radiation and water temperature in SODIS plastic bottles. The objective is to use available local materials to enhance the process while reducing the extra energy usage required for the manufacturing of new ad-hoc systems.
Experiments were conducted at a temperate climate, 40 °N latitude, over different seasons of the year. Escherichia coli and total coliforms disinfection processes were studied. Results show that in most cases the bottles over the zinc-coated metal roofing material reached an inactivation level of 1-log higher than those on the bamboo cover. Maximum water temperatures differences in the bottles over the two materials were of about 2.5 °C in the best case. Higher inactivation in the zinc-coated metal sheet when water temperature is below 40 °C should be attributed to better material reflectivity. At water temperatures around 40 °C, the 2.5 °C difference can be significative and accelerate the disinfection process.
Material heat transfer characteristics have been also found to be essential, especially when the solar disinfection starts at mid-day instead of early in the morning. In this case, as the support materials are already at higher temperatures because of solar irradiance absorption, the water temperature in the bottles increases more rapidly, contributing to the water disinfection process when it rises above 40 °C.
Eliminating Diseases by Investing in WASH. Huffington Blog, May 2015.
Author: Neeraj Mistry, anaging Director for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
At the turn of the century, world leaders came together at the United Nations in New York to develop the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight ambitious goals and targets meant to significantly reduce poverty by the year 2015. As the window to achieve these goals closes this year, we reflect on progresses made and look ahead to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that will shape the development agenda for the next 15 years.
A number of MDG targets have already been met, including efforts to reduce cases of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 6) and improving access to safe drinking water (MDG 7). Moving forward, addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) will be a critical component when working toward meeting both of these goals. NTDs are bacterial, parasitic and viral infections that affect the most marginalized communities across the world and are often the result of inadequate water supply, limited access to sanitation facilities and poor hygiene. Areas with stagnant water are breeding grounds for insects that carry NTDs, notably mosquitoes which transmit malaria, but also dengue fever, lymphatic filariasis and chikungunya. By promoting integrated vector management and improved water control measures in endemic countries, we can simultaneously work to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria, while also working to control and eliminate NTDs.
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Handwashing before drawing water: a sixth critical time? Waterlines, Apr 2015.
Author: Sally Sutton
The promotion of critical times for handwashing has done much to improve knowledge on hygiene, even if rather less on the practice. However while there has long been a recognition of the need to wash hands before preparing food, there has never been any mention of taking the same precautions before drawing water.
With almost half of rural Africa still taking water either by bucket and rope or by scooping water from surface and shallow ground water, lack of handwashing can not only lead to contamination of the water being carried home, but also of the source itself, as demonstrated by source water quality monitoring detailed in this paper.
Even for those taking water from better protected sources, dirty hands can lead to contamination of collected water, especially where bowls and buckets are the main vessels for water transport. Handwashing before water collection is proposed as an additional barrier to faecal-oral contamination, to make a sixth critical time.
Association of Supply Type with Fecal Contamination of Source Water and Household Stored Drinking Water in Developing Countries: A Bivariate Meta-analysis. Env Health Perspec, May 2015.
Authors: Katherine F. Shields, Robert E.S. Bain, Ryan Cronk, Jim A. Wright, and Jamie Bartram
Background: Access to safe drinking water is essential for health. Monitoring access to drinking water focuses on water supply type at the source, but there is limited evidence on whether quality differences at the source persist in water stored in the household.
Objectives: To assess the extent of fecal contamination at the source and in household storedwater (HSW) and explore the relationship between contamination at each of these sampling points and water supply type.
Methods: A bivariate random-effects meta-analysis of 45 studies, identified through asystematic review, that reported either the proportion of samples free of fecal indicator bacteria and/or individual sample bacteria counts for source and HSW, disaggregated by supply type.
Results: Water quality deteriorated substantially between source and stored water. Mean percentage of contaminated samples (noncompliance) at the source was 46% (95% CI: 33, 60%) while mean noncompliance in HSW was 75% (95% CI: 64, 84%). Water supply type was significantly associated with noncompliance at the source (p < .001) and in HSW (p = 0.03). Source water (OR = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1, 0.5) and HSW (OR = 0.3; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) from pipedsupplies had significantly lower odds of contamination when compared to non-piped water,potentially due to residual chlorine.
Conclusions: Piped water is less likely to be contaminated compared to other water supply typesat both the source and in HSW. A focus on upgrading water services to piped supplies may helpimprove safety, including for those drinking stored water.
