Capita Water Use Research Articles

Urban land and sustainable resource use: Unpacking the countervailing effects of urbanization on water use in China, 1990–2014

Despite substantial attention paid to the environmental outcomes of urbanization, explanations and evidence have been surprisingly mixed. Drawing on political economy arguments and the ecological modernization theory, this study addresses the gap in the literature by conceptualizing urbanization as an intertwining process of population concentration and land use intensification, and examines how these two dimensions influence water use at the local level. Panel data for total water use, per capita water use, and water use efficiency are analyzed using random effects and fixed effects panel regression models for 286 Chinese cities from 1990 to 2014. The findings suggest that population concentration and urban land use have countervailing effects on water use and per capita use, while both improve water use efficiency. The results confirm the inner tussle within urbanization, and imply that cities with smaller population size and intense land use show potential for sustainable water use.

Analysis of Water Supply and Demand based on Logistic Model

With the development of economy and the increasing growth rate of population, people’s increasing demand for water resources and the unreasonable exploitation and usage of water resource, water scarcity exists in many countries and regions. Accordingly, the research on how to solve the water scarcity is of great value. Firstly, considering the dynamic influence of time on water resource supply and demand and the two factors including the degree of water resource exploitation and per capita availability of water, the water resource supply and demand model is built to measure the capacity of the region to offer clean water. This paper selected the lower per capita water use in north China as the object. This water scarcity in this area is severe due to its large population, less natural water distribution, large proportion of agriculture and low usage of industrial and agricultural water. Secondly, building up the Logistic model and grey prediction model to predict the following 15 years’ population situation and the total water resource supply in north China. Use the intervention plan which combined waste water recycling and water transfer project to intervene water resources. Lastly, combined with intervention plan and introducing validity coefficients to improve the supply and demand model of water resources, it can be estimated that by the year of 2020, water scarcity in the certain area will be alleviated.

The role of external and emergent drivers of water use change in Las Vegas

ABSTRACTOver the past twenty-five years, per capita water use has declined in many US cities. Technological and policy changes partially explain this decline, but variables beyond the control of water managers also influence water use including external (e.g. drought) and emergent (e.g. public attention) changes. Importantly, these variables interact and the relationships between these variables and water use are non-stationary. However, many models assume fixed relationships between water use and its drivers, and limited interaction between variables. Here we present a flexible socio-hydrological approach to model how conservation strategies, and external and emergent changes, interact to influence per capita water use. We apply this approach to Las Vegas and find that marginal water rates, code changes coupled with population growth, and conservation response to water stress are the key drivers of the observed decline. Critically, modeling these strategies in absence of their connections to population growth and water stress cannot fully account for observed changes.

Identification of urban drinking water supply patterns across 627 cities in China based on supervised and unsupervised statistical learning

Urbanization, one of the predominant trends of the 21st century, places great stress on urban water supply networks. This paper aimed to identify the most important variables driving urban water supply patterns in China, a region which has seen rapid urban growth in the last few decades. In addition, a principal component analysis-informed urban water sustainability index was developed in order to benchmark cities. The research involved applying statistical learning and other analytical methods to 12 years of urban water supply data for 627 cities across China. The findings were as follows: (1) PCA showed that approximately 46.8% of variability in the data could be explained by two principal components. Component 1 (37.26%) was more closely associated with variables related to water supply and sale, supply pipelines, and water supply finance. C2 (9.51%) was clearly related to urban water prices and average per capita water use. (2) Random forest and XGBoost algorithms were effective in classifying cities according to their region, with model testing accuracies of 87.69% and 88.32% respectively. (3) Chinese cities have consistently suffered water loss/leakage rates above 20% since 2001, and water prices are closely associated with leakage. (4) China's urban water sustainability has increased by just 3.56% between 2001 and 2013; Southwest China saw the highest growth rate in urban water supply sustainability. The implications of our research effort will be useful for decision makers in water-stressed urban areas around the world who are seeking novel insights in how to leverage statistical learning techniques to gain insights into urban drinking water supply patterns.

A modeling framework for evaluating the drought resilience of a surface water supply system under non-stationarity

The future resilience of water supply systems is unprecedentedly challenged by non-stationary processes, such as fast population growth and a changing climate. A thorough understanding of how these non-stationarities impact water supply resilience is vital to support sustainable decision making, particularly for large cities in arid and/or semi-arid regions. In this study, a novel modeling framework, which integrates hydrological processes and water management, was established over a representative water limited metropolitan area to evaluate the impacts of water availability and water demand on reservoir storage and water supply reliability. In this framework, climate change induced drought events were selected from statistically downscaled Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 outputs under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 scenario, while future water demand was estimated by the product of projected future population and per capita water use. Compared with the first half of the 21st century (2000–2049), reservoir storage and water supply reliability during the second half century (2050–2099) are projected to reduce by 16.1% and 14.2%, respectively. While both future multi-year droughts and population growth will lower water supply resilience, the uncertainty associated with future climate projection is larger than that associated with urbanization. To reduce the drought risks, a combination of mitigation strategies (e.g., additional conservation, integrating new water sources, and water use redistribution) was found to be the most efficient approach and can significantly improve water supply reliability by as much as 15.9%.

Impacts of urbanization on water use and energy-related CO2 emissions of residential consumption in China: A spatio-temporal analysis during 2003–2012

Abstract China has been undergoing unprecedented urbanization since the 1978 economic reform, with the present growth rate of 20 million people per year. This rapid and perennial progress has been raising concerns about environmental sustainability, due to a severe nationwide deterioration of China's environment and ecosystems in the context of ceaselessly increasing demand for water and energy. It is therefore of prime necessity and importance to comprehend China's water and energy security under the effect of dramatic demographic changes. Analyses of this issue still remain few and far between, and a comprehensive picture is not available that would help understand China's recent development in urbanization, its spatial features and links to water and energy security, particularly regarding residential consumption, and related national policy-making. Consequently, we address these knowledge gaps by performing an integrated and quantitative spatio-temporal analysis of the impacts of China's urbanization on water use and energy-related CO2 emissions of residential consumption. We propose adding residential per capita water use and per capita energy-related CO2 emissions as national indicators for policy-making targets of China's water and energy security. Over the study period of 2003–2012, per capita rural residential water use was on the increase, while urban use showed the opposite trend. Rural consumption has been remarkably higher than the urban, and this gap appears to be growing. In contrast, the per capita energy-related CO2 emissions of residential consumption augmented significantly in both urban and rural areas nationwide. Besides, both the total and rural per capita residential water use and energy-related CO2 emissions showed a significant positive correlation. However, in urban areas this correlation was negative.

Water for sustainable development in the Berg Water Management Area, South Africa

Water is fundamental to human well-being and economic growth. Measuring how water contributes to sustainable development is an important aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, ‘Water and sanitation for all’. This importance is especially significant for water-scarce developing countries such as South Africa. Appropriate indicators can support decision-making and highlight key issues on inequality, unemployment and sustainability. In this paper, additional indicators for SDG 6.4 on water-use efficiency are proposed that focus on how individuals and households benefit, both directly and indirectly, from the allocations and use of water resources. The Berg Water Management Area (WMA) in the southwest corner of South Africa is used as a case study to illustrate the results. Residential per capita water use and municipal water losses were determined for all towns in the area. Figures for jobs and income per unit of water use were calculated for the heavily water-dependent industries, namely, agriculture, agriprocessing, freshwater aquaculture, mining and steel processing. This approach to measuring the socio-economic benefits of water use are relevant for other countries seeking to measure the role that water plays in achieving inclusive sustainable development, and could be included in the final SDG 6 indicator suite.
 Significance: 
 
 New measures of water-use efficiency based on jobs and income are proposed.
 New indicators are proposed for SDG 6.
 Water use, jobs and annual income are estimated for all heavily water-dependent sectors in the Berg WMA.

Water Price Optimization after the Melamchi Water Supply Project: Ensuring Affordability and Equitability for Consumer’s Water Use and Sustainability for Utilities

Sustainability of water supply services has been central to the main water supply agenda globally. In order to promote affordable, equitable, and sustainable water supply, this paper proposed a method to set the piped water price inside Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) is currently under construction inside the valley to tide over the water deficit. Domestic water use and expenditure data were obtained from a household survey of 1500 households. Post-MWSP were developed based upon per capita water use and water price. Equity and affordability were evaluated by comparing the ratio of water expenditure to total expenditure of households (expenditure ratio: ER) in each service area. The expenditure for piped water service and alternate water sources was taken into account to calculate the total water expenditure. Sustainability was measured as the ratio of operation and maintenance cost to the total revenue of the utility (Working ratio: WR). The results show that an increase in water price by approximately 54% over the current price is necessary to meet operation and maintenance costs, assuming the WR to be 0.7. Approximately 30% increase in water use (a minimum of 80 LPCD) can be maintained post MWSP. However, water use of 135 LPCD increased the ER by more than 1%, which was the threshold of water affordability and may cause ground water stress.

Modeling Urban Hydrology and Green Infrastructure Using the AGWA Urban Tool and the KINEROS2 Model.

Urban hydrology and green infrastructure (GI) can be modeled using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) Urban tool and the Kinematic Runoff and Erosion (KINEROS2) model. The KINEROS2 model provides an urban modeling element with nine overland flow components that can be used to represent various land cover types commonly found in the built environment while treating runoff-runon and infiltration processes in a physically based manner. The AGWA Urban tool utilizes a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework to prepare parameters required for KINEROS2, executes the model, and imports results for visualization in the GIS. The AGWA Urban tool was validated on a residential subdivision in Arizona, USA, using 47 rainfall events (June 2005 to September 2006) to compare observed runoff volumes and peak flow rates with simulated results. Comparison of simulated and observed runoff volumes resulted in a slope of 1.00 for the regression equation with an R2 value of 0.80. Comparison of observed and simulated peak flows had a slope of 1.12 with an R2 value of 0.83. A roof runoff analysis was simulated for 787 events, from January 2006 through December 2015, to analyze the water availability from roof runoff capture. Simulation results indicated a 15% capture of the average monthly rainfall volume on the watershed. Additionally, rainwater captured from roofs has the potential to provide for up to 70% of the domestic annual per capita water use in this region. Five different scenarios (S1 - base, S2 - with retention basins, S3 - with permeable driveways, S4 - with rainwater harvesting cisterns, and S5 - all GI practices from S2, S3, and S4) were simulated over the same period to compare the effectiveness of GI implementation at the parcel level on runoff and peak flows at the watershed outlet. Simulation results indicate a higher runoff volume reduction for S2 (53.41 m3 average capacity, average 30% reduction) as compared to S3 (average 14% reduction), or S4 (3.78 m3 capacity, average 6% reduction). Analysis of peak flows reveal larger peak flow reduction for S2. S3 showed more reduction of smaller peak flows as compared to S4.

Spatial inequality in water access and water use in South Africa

Abstract The importance of measuring inequalities in sustainable development is reflected in the requirement to disaggregate national data for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this paper, piped water access, water use and water stress are mapped and reported at national, provincial, district, municipal, town and ward levels, and urban and rural areas. The results show that although 45% of the population has water access in their dwelling this ranges from 0.07% to 100% at ward level, with a high level of inequality (Gini index of 0.36). National per capita water use is 208 litres per person per day (l/c/d) but ranges from 8 l/c/d to 2,414 l/c/d at town level, with a Gini index of 0.27. The analysis shows that social factors, such as water access and income, and not natural factors, such as rainfall or runoff, have the greatest influence on per capita water use. The paper provides the first in-depth analysis of per capita water use at the local level across South Africa and suggests new water indicators that could support equitable allocation of water resources and SDG reporting.

Water and related electrical energy use in urban households—Influence of individual attributes in Beijing, China

Water and energy are intricately connected in households. The connections mainly appear in three types of residential behavior: bathing, cooking, and cleaning. This study investigated the features of water and related energy consumption in groups with different individual attributes and identified the key groups and types of behavior that correlate with water and energy conservation. A face-to-face interview method was applied to estimate residential water and energy consumption associated with three types of behavior. Regression analysis was applied to the results of 1017 questionnaires to explore the relationships between individual attributes and the amount of water used and associated energy consumption. Chi-square test and extended Mantel-Haenszel test were applied to confirm the relations between individual attributes and behavior. Annual per capita water use for the three types of behavior was 33.6m3 on average and annual per capita water related electricity consumption was estimated to be 545.7kWh. The Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.8 with a confidence level of 99%, which indicated a strong correlation between water use and energy consumption. The results showed that 55% of household electricity consumption was coupled with water use in Beijing. Water use and related electricity consumption had a positive correlation with education but a negative correlation with age and family size. Young women under 30 years old with a bachelor degree or above who live alone often use the most water and electricity, 16% and 28% higher than the average. This paper provides a better understanding of urban household consumption and individual attributes.

Life-cycle energy impacts for adapting an urban water supply system to droughts

In recent years, cities in some water stressed regions have explored alternative water sources such as seawater desalination and potable water recycling in spite of concerns over increasing energy consumption. In this study, we evaluate the current and future life-cycle energy impacts of four alternative water supply strategies introduced during a decade-long drought in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. These strategies were: seawater desalination, indirect potable water recycling, network integration, and rainwater tanks. Our work highlights the energy burden of alternative water supply strategies which added approximately 24% life-cycle energy use to the existing supply system (with surface water sources) in SEQ even for a current post-drought low utilisation status. Over half of this additional life-cycle energy use was from the centralised alternative supply strategies. Rainwater tanks contributed an estimated 3% to regional water supply, but added over 10% life-cycle energy use to the existing system. In the future scenario analysis, we compare the life-cycle energy use between “Normal”, “Dry”, “High water demand” and “Design capacity” scenarios. In the “Normal” scenario, a long-term low utilisation of the desalination system and the water recycling system has greatly reduced the energy burden of these centralised strategies to only 13%. In contrast, higher utilisation in the unlikely “Dry” and “Design capacity” scenarios add 86% and 140% to life-cycle energy use of the existing system respectively. In the “High water demand” scenario, a 20% increase in per capita water use over 20 years “consumes” more energy than is used by the four alternative strategies in the “Normal” scenario. This research provides insight for developing more realistic long-term scenarios to evaluate and compare life-cycle energy impacts of drought-adaptation infrastructure and regional decentralised water sources. Scenario building for life-cycle assessments of water supply systems should consider i) climate variability and, therefore, infrastructure utilisation rate, ii) potential under-utilisation for both installed centralised and decentralised sources, and iii) the potential energy penalty for operating infrastructure well below its design capacity (e.g., the operational energy intensity of the desalination system is three times higher at low utilisation rates). This study illustrates that evaluating the life-cycle energy use and intensity of these type of supply sources without considering their realistic long-term operating scenario(s) can potentially distort and overemphasise their energy implications. To other water stressed regions, this work shows that managing long-term water demand is also important, in addition to acknowledging the energy-intensive nature of some alternative water sources.

Application of a spatially resolved model to contextualise monitoring data for risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals over large scales

Many regulatory screening level exposure assessments are based on simple large scale conceptual scenarios. However, exposure, and therefore risks associated with chemicals, are characterised by high spatial variability. The Scenario assembly tool (ScenAT) is a global screening level model to enable spatially resolved local predictions of environmental concentrations of home and personal care chemicals. It uses the European Union Technical Guidance Document (TGD) equation to predict local scale freshwater concentrations (predicted environmental concentrations - PECs) of chemicals discharged via wastewater. ScenAT uses Geographic Information System (GIS) layers for the underlying socio-economic (population) and environmental parameters (per capita water use, sewage treatment plant connectivity, dilution factor). Using a probabilistic approach, we incorporate sources of uncertainty in the input data (tonnage estimation, removal in sewage treatment plants and seasonal variability in dilution factors) for two case-study chemicals: the antimicrobial triclosan (TCS) and the anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS). We then compare model estimates of wastewater and freshwater concentrations of TCS and LAS to UK monitoring data. Comparison showed that modeled PECs were on average higher than mean measured data for TCS and LAS by a factor 1.8 and 1.4, respectively. Considering the uncertainty associated with both model and monitoring data, the use of a probabilistic approach using the ScenAT model for screening assessment is reasonable. The combination of modelled and monitoring data enables the contextualisation of monitoring data. Spatial PECs can be used to identify areas of elevated concentration for further refined assessment.

Global water transfers embodied in Mainland China’s foreign trade: Production- and consumption-based perspectives

Water resources are embodied in global trade. Although China is the largest water withdrawal economy in the world, 50% of its direct water withdrawal is embodied in Chinese imports and exports. Due to an increasing division of activities between different production units, economies such as Mainland China mainly import intermediate products for further processing and then export final goods to other economies. Overall, Mainland China is a net embodied water supplier not only in final consumption-based trade relations but also in intermediate production-based ones. China’s total per capita water use is much lower than the global average, but yet China exports embodied water through trade activities. Pakistan, Myanmar and India are China’s largest embodied water suppliers, and Hong Kong, the United States and Japan are its largest net recipients. The main water exporting sectors in Mainland China are Electrical and Machinery (Sector 9) and Textiles and Wearing Apparel (Sector 5) respectively, and the main importing sector is Agriculture (Sector 1) with imports coming mainly from Myanmar, Pakistan, the United States and North Korea. This analysis of China’s global embodied water transfers can inform policies to increase China’s water use efficiency and can be generated to build embodied water budgets for a systematic allocation of water resources on the globe especially from the production- and consumption-based perspectives.

A narrative method for analyzing transitions in urban water management: The case of the Miami‐Dade Water and Sewer Department

AbstractAlthough the water management sector is often characterized as resistant to risk and change, urban areas across the United States are increasingly interested in creating opportunities to transition toward more sustainable water management practices. These transitions are complex and difficult to predict – the product of water managers acting in response to numerous biophysical, regulatory, political, and financial factors within institutional constraints. Gaining a better understanding of how these transitions occur is crucial for continuing to improve water management. This paper presents a replicable methodology for analyzing how urban water utilities transition toward sustainability. The method combines standardized quantitative measures of variables that influence transitions with contextual qualitative information about a utility's unique decision making context to produce structured, data‐driven narratives. Data‐narratives document the broader context, the utility's pretransition history, key events during an accelerated period of change, and the consequences of transition. Eventually, these narratives should be compared across cases to develop empirically‐testable hypotheses about the drivers of and barriers to utility‐level urban water management transition. The methodology is illustrated through the case of the Miami‐Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) in Miami‐Dade County, Florida, and its transition toward more sustainable water management in the 2000s, during which per capita water use declined, conservation measures were enacted, water rates increased, and climate adaptive planning became the new norm.

Cluster analysis of urban water supply and demand: Toward large-scale comparative sustainability planning

The sustainability of urban water systems is often compared in small numbers of cases selected as much for their familiarity as for their similarities and differences. Few studies examine large urban datasets to conduct comparisons that identify unexpected similarities and differences among urban water systems and problems. This research analyzed a dataset of 142 cities that includes annual per capita water use (m3/yr/cap) and population. It added a 0.5° grid annual water budget value (P-PET/yr) as an index of hydroclimatic water supply. With these indices of urban water supply and demand, we conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis to identify relative similarities among, and distances between, the 142 cases. While some expected groupings of climatically similar cities were identified, unexpected clusters were also identified, e.g., cities that use water at greater rates than local climatic water budgets provide. Those cities must seek water from greater distances and greater depths. They face greater water and wastewater treatment costs. To become more sustainable they must increase water use efficiency, demand management, reuse, and recycling. The significance of the population variable suggests that adding other explanatory socio-economic variables, as well as more precise water system indices, are logical next steps for comparative analysis of urban water sustainability.

Estimated Per Capita Water Usage Associated with Different Levels of Water Scarcity Risk in Arid and Semiarid Regions

Water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions is a great economic, environmental and social problem, where the people living in these regions have to use technologies, such as cistern, to ensure water for their survival. Given the difficulties in these regions, this paper aims to propose a methodology to estimate per capita water use for different levels of water shortage risk, ensuring water supply under the conditions of arid and semi-arid regions; and present a case study for the Brazilian semi-arid region. The methodology is based on analysis of spatial and temporal risks of water shortage in the cisterns. Analysis of the temporal risk of water shortage is based on the premise that the cistern is without water for 3 consecutive days with return periods of 5, 10 and 20 years. To ascertain the spatial risk of per capita water use associated with these return periods in hydrologically homogeneous regions, we evaluate the confidence interval associated with the average monthly water use. Thus, the proposed methodology allows to determine the potential water use in each homogeneous region. For the Brazilian semiarid region it is possible to identify the areas where local population has a greater restriction on the access to water (central semiarid region) and areas where there is greater water availability (north and south of the semi-arid). This variation of water availability allows to adapt management measures accounting for the ground conditions of each location, in order to meet the water needs of the local population.

A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods

Of the various natural resources necessary for human survival and good health, provision of adequate water supply is a major challenge to many municipalities not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole. In 2000, an estimated one-sixth of the world’s population was without access to improved water supply with the majority of these people living in Asia and Africa. This study reports a cross-sectional survey that sought to establish the water supply situation among households living in the high, middle and low income areas within the municipality of Naivasha in Kenya. Data from a random sample of 385 households was obtained from the residential areas with secondary and primary data obtained from the Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company. Primary data was collected on water access, alternative water sources, water quality, per capita water use and cost of water. The data were collected using questionnaires, scheduled interviews, and observations and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Our results indicated that only 63% of respondents used improved sources of water. Further, there was no significant difference between the amounts of water used per person per day across the three income levels. Water demand in Naivasha outstrips supply and people resort to using boreholes which have more reliable supply. The study showed that the respondents were able to access water as per the minimum required quantities postulated by the WHO guidelines. However, the middle and low income groups spend more than the stipulated proportions of their income on water. There was no significant difference between the water used by households across the income levels. The usage was significant depending on the number of household members and the amount of household activities that require water use per day. Households that could not afford their water requirements forced them to reduce water usage thereby compromising hygiene. This study shows that access to safe water still remains a challenge and the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion without access to safe water may be hampered by challenges of urbanization and rapid population growth. It is recommended that more effort be made to increase access to safe water to mitigate the various inequalities described here and to reduce incidences of water related diseases.

Do per Capita Water Use Regulations Penalize Growing Urban Economies

Water has shaped nations for centuries. However as populations have expanded and economies grow, the demand for water has increased substantially. Large amounts of water are needed for agriculture, power and daily living. This water is often removed from the downstream hydrologic cycle exacerbating current water shortfalls. There are a variety of means to address water demands. However they are disproportionately placed on urban users as those users are the easiest to measure and regulate. Urban users are asked to curtail water use, convert to alternative sources and can be regulated on per capita water use. Per capital water use is often used to show where there is “wasted” water use, usually in the form of excessive irrigation. Most such communities are distinctly urban-large areas with large and diverse populations, which often include a large tourist contingent. However such a metric may penalize successful communities with diverse economic bases, thereby limiting the potential for these urban communities to grow their economies and forcing local officials into difficult decisions with respect to growth, development and job opportunities for their residents. The issue is particularly significant because urban use is only 12.6% of total water use in the United States.

Water Source and Distance is Associated with Hygiene Behaviors in Karamoja, Uganda

We investigated the relationship between distance to improved water sources and hygiene practices Karamoja Uganda. We conducted semi‐structured interviews and household observations among mothers of children under 24 months (n=56) from seven villages during the rainy season, when seasonal stream use is common. Distance to water source was estimated using a GPS monitor and total water use was estimated per‐capita by the volume of water containers used divided by the total household members. Households with a water source closer than 300 meters had significantly greater daily hand washing frequency among mothers (4.6 vs 3.6, p=.038) but not among children (3.00 versus 2.89, p=0.33). When the closest water source was a borehole compared to a stream, the daily frequency of hand washing was higher among children (3.4 vs 2.8 times, p .023) but not among mothers (4.2 vs 4.8, p=0.60). The mean per capita water use was 10.9L (SE 1.1), and 82.1% of households consumed less than 20L per person. Larger households did not account for greater water needs: households with more than 5 children had the same total water usage as households with fewer than 5 children (64.8L vs 64.1L, p=0.53). Findings suggest that children in large families may be vulnerable to poor hygiene practices owing to a lack of sufficient water for increased family size. Increasing access to boreholes may improve child hand‐washing frequency in this remote region.