Editorial: Overview for Tea & Health Special for IJTS

Safe water supply can altogether enhance the personal satisfaction and is a wellspring of and the condition for economic development and water is at the core of sustainable development. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. The issue of water is observed as a general problem for both the urban and the rural population and lack of access to safe and clean water is locked in the heart of the poverty. Looking in to this research report was design with the objectives to access to safe drinking water supply and to find out the problems of households with respect to safe drinking water availability after the 2010 floods in Pirsabaq village of Nowshera by randomly selected 2761 households and was interviewed for the data through structured questioners. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents were of young age and literate having different level of education. Drinking water sources i.e. piped, protected dug well, unprotected dug well, and hand pump. The general methods of water storage were at household level were container with lid, container without lid, water tank on roof, drum, jeri cans, water cooler and pitcher. The household clean drinking water storage source were daily 75.26%, once a week 16.04%, once a month 5.61%, once a year 2.11%, never 0.98% and the reasons for not cleaning were the no time, no mean and not important respectively. The reason of long interval is, that the majority of water is clean is 30.49%. The drawing method of drinking water from the storage source were divided into four categories dipping a glass/jug or mug, long handle scoop, taps and drawing water from the container, 82.08% of the household have touch hand with water. The different water cleaning methods of the respondents were boiling (30.38%), water purification tablet/chlorine, use sachet/ packets and use ceramic/other filters. The study as whole concludes that provision of safe drinking water is still a challenge to the residents of the area and the households are still facing different challenges in it provision which can be overcome by rising awareness, introducing new methods of water treatment and strong monitoring of the water quality for different contents.

Biological stability in drinking water distribution systems: A novel approach for systematic microbial water quality monitoring

To understand the status on knowledge of drinking water among adults aged 18 - 60 yrs in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou of China. A total of 1483 adults aged 18 - 60 yrs from the four cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou) were selected using multiple-stage random sampling method. The information was collected by face-to-face interview. Through face to face interview, investigators surveyed the daily water intake, the harm of dehydration, time of drinking water and healthy drinks knowledge using a questionnaire. Knowledge awareness was compared through χ(2) test for different cities, urban and rural, genders. The unawareness rate of minimum drinking water volume (1200 ml/d) was 28.4% (421/1483). The rate in Chengdu was the highest (41.8%, 156/373). The rate in women (32.4%, 241/745) was significantly higher than that in men (24.4%, 180/738) (χ(2) = 11.55, P < 0.01). The unawareness rate of the harm of dehydration was 14.4% (213/1483). The rate in Chengdu (18.5%, 69/373) and Guangzhou (18.3%, 68/371) was higher than that in the other cities. The rate in rural (18.6%, 137/736) was significantly higher than that in urban (10.2%, 76/747) (χ(2) = 21.47, P < 0.01). The people who considered drinking water when they felt thirsty as healthy behavior accounted for 48.3% (716/1483). The rate in Chengdu was the highest (59.0%, 220/373). The unawareness rate of plain water being the best accounted for 18.9% (280/1483), while 17.9% (50/280) of them considered beverages as the best. The knowledge of drinking water among 18 - 60 yrs residents in the four cities is not comprehensive. We should enhance propaganda of healthy drinking water.

A safe and easily accessible potable water supply is essential for good health. About a billion people in developing countries have not had a safe and sustainable water supply for several decades. Water is said to be safe to drink and usable for domestic purposes, when it is free from pathogenic agents, harmful chemical substances, and pleasant to taste. A drinking water quality may be acceptable when it is treated in a treatment plant. Using unsafe drinking or bathing water can impose serious risks to human health. Microbial contamination of groundwater due to sewage outfalls, and agricultural runoff can be a serious threat. Globally, the most commonly occurring diseases transmitted through drinking of unsafe water are infectious hepatitis, cholera, bacillary dysentery, typhoid, paratyphoid, salmonellosis, colibacillosis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, and amoebiasis. Contaminated water may also cause many more bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases. Majority of the diarrheal deaths occurred worldwide are mainly associated with unsafe water drinking, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. This condition indicated that water supply, and sanitation interventions can play an important role in combating the incidence of waterborne diseases among children. The prevention of waterborne diseases may include improving access to safe water, improving water quality at the source, treating household water and storing it safely, improving access to adequate sanitation facilities, and encouraging good hygiene practices, particularly proper hand washing with antiseptic solution. Water sources, such as household connection, public standpipe, and borehole condition, protected dug well, protected spring, and rainwater collection should be safe and accessible. Regular monitoring of drinking water for various infectious agents should be applied as it will certainly reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases

In the aftermath of a severe cyclonic storm on 7 January 2012, a cluster of acute diarrhoea cases was reported from two localities in Pondicherry, Southern India. We investigated the outbreak to identify causes and recommend control measures. We defined a case as occurrence of diarrhoea of more than three loose stools per day with or without vomiting in a resident of affected areas during 6-18 January 2012. We used active (door-to-door survey) and stimulated passive (healthy facility-based) surveillance to identify cases. We described the outbreak by time, place, and person. We compared the case-patients with up to three controls without any apparent signs and symptoms of diarrhoea and matched for age, gender, and neighbourhood. We calculated matched odds ratio (MOR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and population attributable fractions (PAF). We collected rectal swabs and water samples for laboratory diagnosis and tested water samples for microbiological quality. We identified 921 cases and one death among 8,367 residents (attack rate: 11%, case-fatality: 0.1%). The attack rate was the highest among persons of 50 years and above (14%) and females (12%). The outbreak started on 6 January and peaked on the 9th and lasted till 14 January. Cases were clustered around two major leakages in water supply system. Nine of the 16 stool samples yielded V. cholerae O1 Ogawa. We identified that consumption of water from the public distribution system (MOR=37, 95% CI 4.9-285, PAF: 97%), drinking unboiled water (MOR=35, 95% CI 4.5-269, PAF: 97%), and a common latrine used by two or more households (MOR=2.7, 95% CI 1.3-5.6) were independently associated with cholera. Epidemiological evidence suggested that this outbreak was due to ingestion of water contaminated by drainage following rains during cyclone. We recommended repair of the water supply lines, cleaning-up of the drains, handwashing, and drinking of boiled water.

Background: Water is one of the basic needs for survival, and potable water is essential for good health. Contaminated drinking water is a major health hazard in developing countries, and water-related diseases are a significant contributor to the global burden of illness. Thus, for populations without reliable access to safe drinking water, household water treatment provides a means of improving water quality and preventing disease. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of household water purification among caregivers of under-five children in Biye community. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 142 caregivers of under-five children who were randomly selected. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS. Chi-square was used to test associations. The level of significance was set at <0.05. Results: Majority (63.4%) of respondents used unprotected well, and only 26.1% used protected well as a source of water. Only 12% of respondents had good knowledge. However, the majority of respondents (63.4%) had a positive attitude toward household water purification. Boiling was the most common (79.6%) method of water purification respondents are aware of and only about a third (32.4%) currently practiced household water purification. Conclusion: Majority of the respondents had poor knowledge and practice of household water purification. However, significant proportion of the respondents had a positive attitude toward household water purification. The local government authority should embark on the mass campaign on the importance and methods of household water purification in rural communities.

Disinfection is a critical step in drinking water treatment, killing pathogenic organisms and ensuring the water is safe for consumption. However, disinfection byproducts (DBPs) form during treatment when disinfectants react with naturally occurring organic matter, bromide, iodide or other contaminants present in source waters. DBPs are of concern in drinking water because they are carcinogenic and teratogenic, and some DBPs are regulated. Source water bromide can shift DBP speciation toward higher risk brominated species and may shift someDBPs toward unregulated forms. While naturally occurring bromide concentrations are typically quite low, elevated levels can be found in coastal groundwater and estuary sources and where surface waters are impactedby anthropogenic activities such as energy extraction and utilization activities. Elevated bromide concentrations in source waters may lead to higher risk to consumers, even while water continues to meet regulatory compliance requirements. TTHM does not adequately capture risk of the regulated species when source water bromide concentrations are elevated, and thus would also likely be an inadequate surrogate for many unregulated brominatedspecies. Alternative surrogate measures, including THM3 and the bromodichloromethane concentration, are more robust surrogates for species-specific THM risk at varying source water bromide concentrations.Recently, climate change has been associated with increasing bromide concentrations incoastal groundwater and estuaries sources resulting from saltwater intrusion and in inland surface water sources as a result of anthropogenic factors. This work evaluated elevated bromide concentrations resulting from saltwater intrusion in coastal groundwater systems and from anthropogenic discharges from coal fired power plants operating wet FGD units.Coastal utilities treating a↵ected groundwater sources will likely meet regulatory levels for THMs, but even small changes in saltwater intrusion can have significant e↵ects on finished water concentrations and may exceed desired health risk threshold levels due to the extentof bromination in the THM. As a result of climate change, drinking water utilities using coastal groundwater or estuaries should consider the implications of treating high bromide source waters. In surface waters in the Monongahela River Basin, coal-fired power plants with wet FGD account for most of the total observed bromide concentrations at a drinking water intakedownstream. For the modeled bromide load, coal power plant discharges contribute an additional 24 mg/L TTHM half of the time during the period evaluated, exceeding the 10−5risk threshold. As source water bromide concentrations increase, TTHM may be inadequate as a surrogate measure for DBP risk. Alternative regulatory strategies may better protect human health.

To investigate the number of drinking occasions per day and average amount consumed per drinking occasion of primary and middle school students in four cities of China, and understand the relationship among drinking occasion, average amount consumed per drinking occasion and total drinking water. A total of 5914 primary and middle school students from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu were selected using multiple-stage random sampling method, and 5868 students completed the study from September to October in 2011. The detailed information of amounts and types of daily drinking water was recorded by subjects using a 24 hours measurement for seven consecutive days. Analysis of the relationship among drinking occasion, average amount consumed per drinking occasion and total drinking water was carried out. The daily total drinking water of subjects was (1089 ± 540) ml; the daily number of drinking occasions was (4.7 ± 1.8) times, with 79.1% (4639/5868) of subjects reporting 6 or less drinking occasions. The amount consumed per drinking occasion was (239 ± 96) ml, plain water (231 ± 112) ml, and beverages (237 ± 112) ml. The number of drinking occasions of subjects was positively correlated with total drinking water (r = 0.614, P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with the average amount consumed per drinking occasion (r = -0.211, P < 0.05). Total drinking water and the average amount consumed per drinking occasion was positively correlated (r = 0.598, P < 0.05). The number of drinking occasion of primary and middle school students more than 6 times was fewer in four cities of China, but the average amount of beverages consumed per drinking occasion was relatively more. With the increasing of drinking occasion, the average amount consumed per drinking occasion decreased, but total drinking water increased.

Water-borne parasitic infections have become a source of concern in recent times due to the contamination of various drinking water sources. A survey on the parasitic contamination of drinking water sources was carried out in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria. This is to evaluate the extent of contamination of these water sources and their public health implication. A total of 63 water samples were investigated from five major water sources within the study area. The samples were collected from ponds, wells, streams, boreholes and rainwater and examined using Calcium Carbonate Floatation and Simple Microscopic methods. Among the water sources, pond water had the highest occurrence of parasites 35.9% followed by stream 28.1%, well 21.9%, borehole 9.4% while rainwater had the least 4.7%. Each of the sample sources harboured at least one parasite. Three parasites- Gardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica and Cryptosporidium parvum were observed in their cystic and oocystic forms. Among these parasites, Entamoeba histolystica had the highest prevalence of 29(45.3%), Gardia lamblia 22(34.4%) and Cryptosporidium parvum 13(20.3%). The results showed the extent of parasitic contamination of the various drinking water sources in the study area and the susceptibility of the populace to water-borne diseases. Hence, provision of portable water is of utmost importance within the area and the state in general. The inhabitants of the area should also stop activities that lead to the contamination of the water bodies and boil their drinking water before consumption.

Objective To ascertain the background levels of total α and total β radioactivity in drinking water around Qianshan Nuclear Power Plant (QNPP). Methods Under the National Health and Wellness Committee′s program, 11 monitoring points within 30 km of QNPP were selected in Haiyan County in 2018. The samples of raw water, factory water and tap water were collected in the first half and the second half of the year, respectively, and determined and analyzed according to Standard Examination Methods for Drinking Water - Radiological Parameters (GB/T 5750.13-2006). The total α and total β levels in the tested drinking water were evaluated under the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB 5749-2006) . Results A total of 22 water samples were collected from 11 sampling points in April and September 2018, respectively. The residue rate obtained after drinking water was dried varied, dependent on different types of water, which could be up to 0.033 7%. The total α levels in different types of water ranged from 0.008 to 0.04 Bq/L, averaged on (0.015±0.009) Bq/L, whereas the total β levels ranged from 0.014 to 0.320 Bq/L with an average of (0.188±0.068) Bq/L. There was statistically significant difference in total α levels between raw water and factory water (Z=-2.286, P 0.05). The background levels of total α and total β radioactivity in 93 drinking water samples in 2016 and 2017 were also investigated, combined with a total of 115 water samples from different water bodies in 2018. There was statistically significant difference in total α and total β levels in tap water between 2017—2016 and 2018 (Z= -2.976, -2.031, P<0.05), between 2016 and 2017 (Z=-2.042, -3.214, P<0.05) and between 2017 and 2018 (Z=-20.112, -2.511, P<0.05). Conclusions The operation of nuclear power plant has no impact on radioactivity level in drinking water around QNPP. The drinking water around QNPP is safe. Key words: Drinking water; Radioactive level; Residue rate

Objective In order to understand the quality and health situation of drinking water in rural area, to investigated project of safe drinking water in rural area. Methods Based on the data of rural safe drinking water project offered by the Department of Water Resources, the water quality and health situation of 725 rural drinking water supply projects were monitored in 44 countries of Zhejiang Province. Results There were 52.93% of rural safe drinking water projects up to standard, and the qualified rate of disinfection was 34.51% ; in high water season,the microbiological index of unqualified finished water made up 68.94%, the sensory and chemical index accounted for 29.43%, and the toxicological index accounted for 1.62%. Conclusions Some success has been achieved regarding rural drinking water safety project in Zhejiang province. However, there axe stiff some problems within the safety of drinking water, and need to pay much attetion in relevant departments. Key words: Surveillance; Rural area; Drinking water; Investigation

Safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are fundamental to improving standards of living for people. The improved standards made possible by WASH include, among others, better physical health, protection of the environment, better educational outcomes, convenience time savings, assurance of lives lived with dignity, and equal treatment for both men and women. Poor and vulnerable populations have lower access to improved WASH services and have poorer associated behaviors. Improved WASH is therefore central to reducing poverty, promoting equality, and supporting socioeconomic development. Drinking water and sanitation were targets in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015; under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the post-2015 period, Member States of the United Nations (UN) aspire to achieve universal access to WASH by 2030. The Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (HRTWS) was adopted in 2010 under a UN resolution calling for safe, affordable, acceptable, available, and accessible drinking water and sanitation services for all.The scope of WASH services included in this chapter is shown in table 9.1. The focus is on services at the household and institutional level and on services for personal rather than productive uses.This chapter summarizes global evidence on current WASH coverage and effects of intervention options, and it recommends areas for research and policy. Evidence comes from published synthesized evidence, such as systematic reviews and meta-analyses, evidence papers, and literature reviews. When those sources were not available, evidence was compiled from the next best sources of published research, thus using accepted criteria of the hierarchy of evidence for studies on health effectiveness. Unpublished and grey literature was used where no peer-reviewed published evidence exists.This chapter is structured as follows: Progress in improving drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene coverage Impacts of poor WASH, thereby summarizing the evidence on the continued decline in mortality from diarrheal disease and the emerging evidence on the long-term developmental and cognitive effects of inadequate WASH on children Effectiveness of interventions, thereby examining the health effects of specific WASH interventions, the approaches to service delivery, and the key role of broader institutional policy in accelerating and sustaining progress Intervention costs, efficiency, and sustainability, thereby assessing the socioeconomic returns of improved WASH and considering the requirements for populations to have continued access to WASH services Challenges, opportunities, and recommendations. This chapter uses the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of superregions as follows: Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia, Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific.

The transmission of pathogens by drinking water can pose a significant health risk to the consumer. Today’s tools to assess hygienic quality and potential health risks of drinking water are still mostly cultivation based. The drawbacks of these methods (e.g. bacteria that enter a viable but nonculturable state) confirm the need for new detection tools in drinking water surveillance. Molecular tools that are based on the analysis of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) can therefore help to detect and quantify microbial pathogens in drinking water and to analyze all bacteria in a given drinking water sample. In this study, molecular and cellular tools have been used to assess the community structure and viability of the drinking water microflora of a small scale drinking water distribution system located in Braunschweig, Germany. The developed approach enabled monitoring of the bacterial drinking water community and assessment of the physiological state of taxonomic groups of interest. Applied on a time to time basis, the approach can therefore contribute to the development of a more efficient and safer drinking water treatment. Species of the genus Legionella are ubiquitous in many natural freshwater environments. Epidemiological analyses of infections caused by L. pneumophila depend on the accurate identification of strains, preferably at the clonal level. Available genotyping methods (like MLST and MLVA) require a prior isolation of L. pneumophila from the environmental or clinical sample. In this study, the approved MLVA-8 typing scheme for L. pneumophila was adapted to environmental DNA for a fast and accurate typing of L. pneumophila isolates in one environmental samples without the need for cultivation based methods. Both developed approaches allow a better assessment of risks associated with bacteria in drinking water critical for human health and support its improved processing and management.

water infrastructure is critical to human health, protecting customers from waterborne diseases and other contaminants. Systems are comprised of two parts: treatment and distribution. Water quality is excellent immediately after treatment; however, it changes with time in the distribution network. Post-treatment residual contaminants interact chemically and biologically within the distribution network causing consumed drinking water quality to vary spatially and temporally across the network. As a result, maintaining post-treatment water quality throughout the extensive piped distribution network in the face of many complex chemical and biological relationships is a challenge for water utilities. Drinking water treatment and distribution system challenges are exacerbated by changes in water demands, associated with changes in population and industry, and the age and long-term deferred maintenance of distribution systems.Regulatory and public health requirements for water systems change, and as a result these systems have to be modified, upgraded or expanded over time. Meeting the existing and future challenges of drinking water needs requires a significant amount of resources and may require utilities to consider a broader set of engineering alternatives. The requirement for significant financial investment and the need to meet multiple objectives (e.g., cost, water quality) creates complex decision problems that benefits from a systems-based approach.Effective analysis of system conditions and challenges requires models. The model selected needs to be “fit-for-purpose” and tailored specifically to the system, decision context, and decision-maker to be considered useful in the decision-making context. This work applies models to two different stages of decision-making: problem framing and planning. A framing model provides an initial analysis of the system or topic area (e.g., prevalence of lead in drinking water), this type of model assesses available datasets to identify relevant ones, and aids decision-makers in identifying the target engineering question to investigate in subsequent analyses. A planning model is designed to address a specific set of engineering questions (e.g., where to place treatment in an existing system) and evaluates a wide range of alternatives to identify a set of promising options to be considered further by decision-makers. In this work, first, an integrated simulation and optimization planning model is used to identify the location and capacity of treatment plants within an existing distribution network. Second, a statistical framing model is applied to evaluate the prevalence of lead release within drinking water systems.The research objectives of this work are as follows:1. Develop a new approach to integrate optimization and physicochemical simulation models to improve selection or prioritization of engineering infrastructure design options in drinking water systems;2. Develop a multi-objective framework to evaluate the role of regulatory limits and the tradeoffs between cost and public health in locating and sizing drinking water treatment infrastructure;3. Evaluate the spatial distribution and relationship among water-lead and non-water lead hazards and density of sensitive populations to identify regions most likely exposed to elevated lead levels; and4. Define the extents of the uncertainty associated with the Lead and Copper Rule compliance evaluation to inform lead in drinking water decision-making beyond regulatory assessment.

To investigate total drinking water intake of adults in the four cities of China in summer. A total of 1483 adults aged 18 - 60 yrs from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou were selected using multiple-stage random sampling method. The information of amounts and types of daily drinking water was recorded by subjects for seven consecutive days using a quantitative measurement. The amounts and types of daily drinking water among different cities and between men and women or urban and rural was analyzed. The median of daily total drinking water of subjects was 1488 ml, with significant difference among the four cities (1579, 1793, 1150, 1467 ml in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou city, respectively, χ(2) = 154.31, P = 0.000). The median of daily drinking water was significantly higher in men (1679 ml) than women (1370 ml) (Z = 8.34, P = 0.000), but no significant difference was found between urban (1514 ml) and rural (1466 ml) daily drinking water median (Z = -0.81, P = 0.420). The median of daily consumption of plain water, tea and beverages were 786, 109, 186 ml, respectively. Among four cities, the highest consumption of plain water was in subjects of Guangzhou (917 ml), while the highest tea consumption in Shanghai (257 ml) and the highest beverages consumption in Shanghai (323 ml) and Beijing (264 ml). Consumption of tea in men (229 ml) was significantly higher than that in women (57 ml) (Z = 7.52, P = 0.000). Subjects in urban (693 ml) had lower consumption of plain water than those in rural (914 ml). The proportion was 32.4% (480/1483) for subjects with water drinking less than 1200 ml per day. The daily consumption of total drinking water, including plain water, tea and beverages is different in adults among different cities and is different in gender and regions. It is nearly 1/3 of subjects with daily total drinking water less than current Chinese recommended water intake (1200 ml).