Abstract
According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the countries which still have limited access to water for drinking purposes are mainly those in the Sub-Saharan region. In this context, the current study provides an overview of the quality of surface water and groundwater in rural and peri-urban areas of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and Mozambique (MZ) in terms of concentrations of conventional pollutants, inorganic chemicals, microorganisms, and micropollutants. Their values were compared with the drinking water standards available for the two countries. Regarding surface water, it was found that microorganisms occur at high concentrations; nickel (RSA) and boron (MZ) are other critical parameters. Regarding groundwater, arsenic and lead (RSA) and boron, sodium, and chloride (MZ) are the main critical substances. With regard to micropollutants, their surface water concentrations are much higher than those in European rivers. The highest values were for ibuprofen, acetylsalicylic acid, clozapine, and estriol. Suitable treatment is necessary to produce safe water depending on the main critical pollutants but, at the same time, action should be taken to improve wastewater treatment in rural areas to improve and safeguard surface water bodies and groundwater which are sources for drinking needs.
Highlights
According to the recent World Health Organization (WHO) report [1], the countries which still have limited access to water for drinking purposes are mainly those in the Sub-Saharan region.In the case of small rural communities, it may be very expensive to guarantee safe water by means of small decentralized water treatment plants fed by surface water or groundwater
The current study provides an overview of the surface water and groundwater quality in rural and peri-urban areas in terms of macropollutants, inorganic chemicals, and micropollutants as well as microorganisms in Republic of South Africa (RSA) and MZ and discusses the possibility of withdrawing the water for drinking purposes
In some papers included even in if they in addition has to present investigations in rural or peri-urban area in MZ; it has to monitor surface or rural areas. This is the case of long rivers in RSA and MZ which cross urbanized areas and water or groundwater in terms common macropollutants peri-urban and rural areas beforeof discharging into the ocean., inorganic heavy metals), polycyclic (PAHs), Tablechemicals
Summary
According to the recent World Health Organization (WHO) report [1], the countries which still have limited access to water for drinking purposes are mainly those in the Sub-Saharan region. Referring the attention to the rural and peri-urban areas of the Sub-Saharan region, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the potential water sources are often not well defined, access to safe water is still limited [1], existing small treatment plants frequently present technical and management problems due to scarce and inadequate maintenance, and security culture is missing [10]. In this context, the European project H2020 SafeWaterAfrica (https://safewaterafrica.eu/en/home) contributed to filling some knowledge gaps. The paper highlights interventions which could improve the quality of source water for drinking needs and provides recommendations on water treatment selection
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