Community Drinking Water Supplies Research Articles

Determination of Fluoride Levels and pH in Community Drinking Water Supply across Pune City, Maharashtra

Context: The knowledge of fluoride levels and pH in potable water is important for health-care personnel and policymakers in general and dentists in particular, but the data regarding fluoride levels and pH of community drinking water in Pune City are deficient. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the fluoride levels and pH in community drinking water supply across Pune City, Maharashtra. Subjects and Methods: In an in vitro, experimental study, a total of 30 water samples were collected from one water treatment plant, one water storage reservoir, and three adjoining residential areas of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) region. They were analyzed for fluoride content using (2-(parasulfophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulfonate) based-spectrophotometric method, and for pH using a digital pH meter. Statistical Analysis Used: Fluoride and pH values were subjected to Mann–Whitney U-test and intragroup comparison of fluoride and pH levels at various levels of water distribution was performed using Kruskal–Wallis test. Results: The mean concentration of fluoride and the pH in water samples from different locations across Pune City were 0.262 and 7.02 mg/L, respectively. Although levels across various sources were different, there was no statistical difference between the fluoride content or the pH of the water from sources across PMC and PCMC regions. Conclusions: The fluoride content of the community water supply of Pune City was below the recommended standards yet within the permissible limits in considering the temperature range in Pune City across different seasons. The pH of the drinking water of Pune City was optimal.

Restoration of Anterior Teeth Using Minimal Invasive Esthetic Techniques with Opalusture and Composite Restoration: A Clinical Technique

Discoloration is one of the important reasons for restoration of anterior teeth in esthetic zone. Dental fluorosis is among common discoloration. Main reason for fluorosis is that concerned person residing in area with high fluoride content in community drinking water supply. In this case report, a 45year old male patient reported with esthetic concern due to discoloration in anterior teeth which was in turn diagnosed to be fluorosis and eventually treated with minimal invasive techniques including combination of microabrasion ,macroabrasion and direct composite veneers. KEYWORDS: Fluorosis,Tooth discoloration,Enamel microabrasion,Dental veneers

Variability of naturally occurring fluoride in diverse community drinking-water sources, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Abstract Large variations in fluoride concentrations exist in natural waters, many of which are the source of community drinking-water supplies. Determining fluoride concentrations in community drinking waters can be challenging in developing Pacific countries such as Vanuatu that have limited laboratory capacity. Knowledge of naturally elevated fluoride concentrations that cause irreversible, adverse health outcomes may allow communities the opportunity to treat and manage their drinking-water supplies. Community drinking-water samples (n = 69), sourced from groundwaters, roof catchment rainwaters, surface waters and springs, were sampled on Tanna Island, Vanuatu between 2017 and 2020. In an 18 km2 area of Western Tanna, a set of 30 groundwater-based drinking-water samples had a median fluoride concentration of 3.3 mg/L, with 20 samples >1.5 mg/L and seven samples >4.0 mg/L. These concentrations increase the risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis, respectively. Repeat resampling at five sites showed little variation over the sampling period. Rainwater-fed drinking-water supplies were lower overall and highly variable in fluoride concentrations (<0.05–4.0 mg/L, median of 0.53 mg/L), with variable inputs from volcanic emissions from Yasur volcano. We recommend a comprehensive oral health and bone health study for the whole island to determine adverse health effects of excess fluoride in this vulnerable population.

Potential of rainwater harvesting in Cimahi, West Java, Indonesia

Drinking water services in Cimahi City are only 18.6% of the population, lower than the average of West Java Province and the National figure of 80.82%. Population density 15,281 population/km2 on the other hand the problem of lack of raw water sources, heavily polluted rivers, 47% of well water is not feasible as a source of drinking water causing a lack of drinking water services for its residents. This problem needs to get a solution, can efforts to use rainwater in Cimahi City be carried out? This study aims to identify water supply systems, the potential, and problems of drinking water supply through rainwater harvesting. The method used is descriptive through analysis of drinking water supply systems through rainwater harvesting including analysis of average drinking water demand, analysis of the potential and problems of drinking water supply, and identification of technical aspects of directives through rainwater harvesting in Cimahi City. The results obtained in this study are that the City of Cimahi has the potential to use a water harvesting system as an alternative for community drinking water supplies. From a technical point of view, Cimahi City can use a combination of individual and communal systems.

A Regional-Scale Index for Assessing the Exposure of Drinking-Water Sources to Wildfires

Recent human-interface wildfires around the world have raised concerns regarding the reliability of freshwater supply flowing from severely burned watersheds. Degraded source water quality can often be expected after severe wildfire and can pose challenges to drinking water facilities by straining treatment response capacities, increasing operating costs, and jeopardizing their ability to supply consumers. Identifying source watersheds that are dangerously exposed to post-wildfire hydrologic changes is important for protecting community drinking-water supplies from contamination risks that may lead to service disruptions. This study presents a spatial index of watershed exposure to wildfires in the province of Alberta, Canada, where growing water demands coupled with increasing fire activity threaten municipal drinking-water supplies. Using a multi-criteria analysis design, we integrated information regarding provincial forest cover, fire danger, source water volume, source-water origin (i.e., forested/un-forested), and population served. We found that (1) >2/3 of the population of the province relies on drinking-water supplies originating in forested watersheds, (2) forest cover is the most important variable controlling final exposure scores, and (3) watersheds supplying small drinking water treatment plants are particularly exposed, especially in central Alberta. The index can help regional authorities prioritize the allocation of risk management resources to mitigate adverse impacts from wildfire. The flexible design of this tool readily allows its deployment at larger national and continental scales to inform broader water security frameworks.

Preparation and Characterization of Biogenic Chitosan-Hydroxyapatite Composite: Application in Defluoridation

ABSTRACTIn Northern Tanzania, high levels of fluoride in community drinking water supply is recognized as one of the major public health concern, the problem is further ameliorated by presence Escherichia coli and fecal coliform bacteria in surface water and shallow wells. Efforts to decontaminate the water involve mostly the use of low efficient bone char for fluoride removal without disinfecting the pathogens. To address this problem, a robust adsorbent which is capable of removing fluoride and microbes simultaneously with minimal diverse impact on the treated water is necessary. Here we highlight development of composite material developed from recycling of crustacean biomass waste from sea food industry. Chitosan polymer, isolated from prawns shell was composited with crab shell derived brushite (CaHPO4.2H2O) to form chitosan-hydroxyapatite composite. XRD and FT-IR analysis confirmed transformation of brushite phases into hydroxyapatite and formation hybrid composite. Fluoride adsorption tests were performed in batch mode to evaluate effectiveness. Defluoridation capacity of up to 6.4 mg/g in field water containing fluoride concentration of 5-70 mg/L was achieved. The best performance was observed with fluoride concentration of 10 mg/L and below. Apart from fluoride removal, the composite also reduced color tint and microbes from surface water samples. The pH of the treated water in most samples remained around 6.5-8.5, which is acceptable for drinking water.

Microbial quality of community drinking water supplies: A ten year (2004–2014) analyses in west Amhara, Ethiopia

Abstract Access to safe drinking water is an important public health and development issue at national, regional and local levels. Community drinking water supplies such as piped water, dug wells and springs are the predominant sources in rural villages and towns in Ethiopia. A retrospective analysis was conducted on microbial quality of community drinking water sources that had been processed from 2004–2014. Water samples were collected from 36 districts in west Amhara region. As per standard operational procedures, bacteriological analyses had been performed using multiple tube fermentation technique. A total of 1030 drinking water samples from (tap water n = 680), wells (n = 198), spring (n = 128) and reservoir (n = 24) were analyzed for microbial qualities. Overall, 29.0% (95% CI: 26.3–31.8%) and 44.7% (95% CI: 41.7–47.7%) of water samples had Escherichia coli and total coliforms (TC), respectively. Furthermore, 52.0%, 43.0%, and 20.2% of water samples from wells, spring and tap water were positive for E. coli . For faecal coliforms, 72.1% of drinking water supplies complied with World Health Organization and Ethiopian Standards. Tap water samples were 3.8 times less likely to be faecal contaminated than water samples from dug wells and spring water sources (OR = 3.8, 95% CI: 2.8–5.1, P = 0.001). This ten year trend analyses showed that microbial qualities of community drinking water supplies were not to the standards. This study reinforces the need to monitor microbial quality and chlorine treatment of community water supplies.

Wildfire and the future of water supply.

In many parts of the world, forests provide high quality water for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and ecological needs, with water supplies in those regions inextricably linked to forest health. Wildfires have the potential to have devastating effects on aquatic ecosystems and community drinking water supply through impacts on water quantity and quality. In recent decades, a combination of fuel load accumulation, climate change, extensive droughts, and increased human presence in forests have resulted in increases in area burned and wildfire severity-a trend predicted to continue. Thus, the implications of wildfire for many downstream water uses are increasingly concerning, particularly the provision of safe drinking water, which may require additional treatment infrastructure and increased operations and maintenance costs in communities downstream of impacted landscapes. A better understanding of the effects of wildfire on water is needed to develop effective adaptation and mitigation strategies to protect globally critical water supplies originating in forested environments.

Water Quality and Syndicated Lead Burden of a Community Drinking Water Supply in Nigeria

Inability of the Zaria municipal water works to satisfy the water demands of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) community necessitated the construction and commissioning of the ABU water treatment works in 1981. Against the background that wholesome and potable water had been declared a Human Right by the Human rights Commission of the United Nations in 2002, this study assesses the water quality status of the drinking water produced by the ABU water treatment plant from 2008 – 2010. This assessment focussed on some parameters of general properties and some heavy metals using standard methods of analyses. The average values of these parameters measured at the house level water samples over the study period were, pH 6.7, TDS 66.0, TOC 2.3, NO3 - 1.4, PO43- 0.1, Cl- 0.5, SO4 = 42.0, Zn2+ 0.04, Pb2+ 0.035mgl-1 and conductivity 102.0μScm-1. With these results, ABU drinking water supply complies with the Nigerian (Nigerian Industrial Standards NIS 554, SON 2007), USEPA, World Health Organization - WHO and European Union - EU standards except for its lead content. High lead concentration as recorded in this study is a source of worry in view of the health implication of lead in drinking water and the involvement of the Ahmadu Bello University Health Services in protecting the source water for over a decade through managing quality of drainage water from Samaru Village into the source water being treated.Key words: ABU drinking water, lead concentration, Samaru, standards

Hanumante River: emerging uses, competition and implications

This paper describes the existing uses and competition over Hanumante River water and its implications to the river ecology. The study was completed by conducting in-depth review of literatures, key-informants’ interview and semi-structured interview. The major water extraction in the Hanumante River is through 148 community drinking water supply schemes which is estimated to extract 15.6 million litres of water per day. Besides this, there are 127 irrigation systems with cumulative command area of 5174 ha in wet season and 42 brick industries using 142 million litres of water annually directly from Hanumante River, leaving very little water to flow downstream reaches. Moreover, there are hundreds of water pumps used for water extraction from river for irrigation purpose. The water flow on the downstream is essentially sewage flow and liquid wastewater disposal into the river and limited groundwater contributions. In addition, there are 232 industries in the city of Bhaktapur, most of which, although, do not extract river water directly, the effluents produced in these industries are discharged into the river either directly or through municipal sewerage system. In order to maintain the healthy river ecology, minimum environmental flow should be maintained in the river.

Voluntary relocation – An exploration of Australian attitudes in the context of drought, recycled and desalinated water

Throughout history settlements have been abandoned due to lack of water. Such a fate is of concern to public officials in settlements facing water scarcity – a condition which is anticipated to increase due to the impacts of climate change, and other factors including increasing per capita water use, and population growth. Key questions surround how to best adapt to these circumstances. A strategy little explored is relocation. This paper presents results from a qualitative study conducted in eight geographically diverse Australian locations. The willingness of individuals to relocate under three hypothetical water scenarios was investigated: (1) if the water in their community ran out, (2) if recycled wastewater was put in their community's drinking water supply, and (3) if desalinated water was put in their community's drinking water supply. Results indicate that most people would not relocate if recycled or desalinated water was used to augment their community's drinking water supply, but they would if their water supply ran out. Our results highlight that while there is initial public opposition to the augmentation of existing potable water supplies with recycled or desalinated water, people would prefer these solutions, over being forced to move location. Respondents were highly aware of the social, economic and public infrastructure costs associated with relocation decisions. Relocation would therefore, for most, only be the very last option if their water demands could not be met. However, it was difficult for most to imagine the situation becoming so dire. Our results highlight the importance of a comprehensive and consultative approach to managing supply in water scarce locations.

Arsenic-safe alternate aquifers and their hydraulic characteristics in contaminated areas of Middle Ganga Plain, Eastern India

Arsenic groundwater contamination exceeding 0.05 mg/l affecting the Newer Alluvial tracts of Patna and Bhojpur, the two worst affected districts located in the Middle Ganga Plain in the Bihar state, has been studied The area is underlain by two-tier Quaternary aquifer systems within a depth of 300 m below ground level, separated by a 15-32-m-thick clay/sandy clay aquitard. The upper part (<50 m depth) of the shallow aquifer system is arsenic-contaminated. The deeper aquifer system (lying below 120-130 m depth) exhibits low arsenic load (max 0.0035 mg/l), having hydraulic conductivity between 64.88 and 82.04 m/day. Groundwater in the deeper aquifer occurs under semi-confined to confined condition due to poor hydraulic conductivity of the middle clay (4.7×10(-2)-7.2×10(-3) m/day). Hydraulic head of the deeper aquifer remains close to the surface than the shallow aquifer. The two aquifer systems in the Newer Alluvium are replaced by a thick single aquifer system in the adjoining Older Alluvium, within a depth of 330 m below ground. In the arsenic-contaminated area, deeper aquifer is protected by a middle clay, which may be developed for community drinking water supply by deep tube wells having a yield capacity of 150 m3/h.

A case study of sanitary survey on community drinking water supplies after a severe (post-Tsunami) flooding event

This report presents a case study of a comprehensive sanitary survey on ca. 160 community drinking water supplies after a severe (post-Tsunami) flooding event in Sri Lanka. Sanitary inspection and microbiological and chemical water quality analyses were performed according to specifically-designed procedures established on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Significant hazards and critical points were identified in almost all the investigated water supplies. The overall results showed a significant level of microbiological and chemical risk associated with drinking water consumption within the investigated areas. The criteria and methods practised in this study are proposed as a model to assure an effective and reliable monitoring in post-emergencies involving possible deterioration of water quality and to identify health priorities related to water consumption.

Application of Direct Push Methods to Investigate Uranium Distribution in an Alluvial Aquifer

AbstractThe U.S. EPA 2000 Radionuclide Rule established a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for uranium of 30 µg/L. Many small community water supplies are struggling to comply with this new regulation. At one such community, direct push (DP) methods were applied to obtain hydraulic profiling tool (HPT) logs and install small diameter wells in a section of alluvial deposits located along the Platte River. This work was conducted to evaluate potential sources of elevated uranium in the Clarks, Nebraska drinking water supply. HPT logs were used to understand the hydrostratigraphy of a portion of the aquifer and guide placement of small diameter wells at selected depth intervals. Low‐flow sampling of the wells provided water quality parameters and samples for analysis to study the distribution of uranium and variations in aquifer chemistry. Contrary to expectations, the aquifer chemistry revealed that uranium was being mobilized under anoxic and reducing conditions. Review of the test well and new public water supply well construction details revealed that filter packs extended significantly above the screened intervals of the wells. These filter packs were providing a conduit for the movement of groundwater with elevated concentrations of uranium into the supply wells and the community drinking water supply. The methods applied and lessons learned here may be useful for the assessment of unconsolidated aquifers for uranium, arsenic, and many other drinking water supply contaminants.

Drinking-water safety – challenges for community-managed systems

A targeted review of documented waterborne disease outbreaks over the past decades reveals some recurring themes that should be understood by drinking-water suppliers. Evidence indicates the outbreaks are often linked to some significant change in conditions that provides a sudden challenge to a water system. Severe weather events, such as heavy rainfall or runoff from snow melt, as well as treatment process and system changes, are common risk factors for drinking-water outbreaks. Failure to recognise warning signs and complacency are important contributors to drinking water becoming unsafe. Drinking-water suppliers must focus on competence and vigilance in maintaining effective multiple barriers appropriate to the challenges facing the drinking-water system. Understanding the risk factors and failure modes of waterborne disease outbreaks is an essential component for effective management of community drinking-water supplies and ensuring the delivery of safe drinking-water to consumers.

A method for mapping corn using the US Geological Survey 1992 National Land Cover Dataset

Long-term exposure to elevated nitrate levels in community drinking water supplies has been associated with an elevated risk of several cancers including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, colon cancer, and bladder cancer. To estimate human exposure to nitrate, specific crop type information is needed as fertilizer application rates vary widely by crop type. Corn requires the highest application of nitrogen fertilizer of crops grown in the Midwest US. We developed a method to refine the US Geological Survey National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) (including map and original Landsat images) to distinguish corn from other crops. Overall average agreement between the resulting corn and other row crops class and ground reference data was 0.79 kappa coefficient with individual Landsat images ranging from 0.46 to 0.93 kappa. The highest accuracies occurred in Regions where corn was the single dominant crop (greater than 80.0%) and the crop vegetation conditions at the time of image acquisition were optimum for separation of corn from all other crops. Factors that resulted in lower accuracies included the accuracy of the NLCD map, accuracy of corn areal estimates, crop mixture, crop condition at the time of Landsat overpass, and Landsat scene anomalies.

Inactivation of enteric microbes in water by electro-chemical oxidant from brine (NaCl) and free chlorine

Oxidant solutions of mostly free chlorine can be electrochemically produced on-site from brine (NaCl) solution and used to disinfect water at the household or community level. In this study electrochemical oxidant (ECO) from brine and free chlorine were evaluated under laboratory conditions for inactivation of test microbes. Purified suspensions of Escherichia coli, the rugose strain of Vibrio cholerae, Clostridium perfringens spores, MS2 coliphage and Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were treated with 2 mg/L or 5 mg/L solutions of ECO or free chlorine at 5 degrees C and 25 degrees C and pH 6, 8, and 10 (pH 7 and 25 degrees C only for C. parvum oocysts) for contact times <60 min. Under nearly all conditions, inactivation kinetics were more rapid for E. coli, V. cholerae, C. perfringens spores and MS2 coliphage with ECO than with free chlorine. ECO reduced E. coli, V. cholerae and MS2 by >4 log10 within 30 min and C. perfringens spores by >2 log10 within 10 min at pH 8 and 25 degrees C. Contrary to previous results, however, C. parvum oocysts were not inactivated by ECO, and the reasons for this difference are uncertain. The on-site electrolytic generation of oxidants from brine provided a convenient and inexpensive disinfectant containing free chlorine that was effective against many enteric microbes, for the treatment of household and community drinking-water supplies worldwide. However, the effectiveness of such oxidants for inactivating C. parvum oocysts was variable and sometimes ineffective.

Analysis of Contaminant Co-Occurrence in Community Water Systems

The current framework for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of water quality in community drinking water supplies produces sequential rules for either single contaminants or small groups of similar contaminants. For both substantive and pragmatic reasons, some water industry experts have advocated the development of a more holistic regulatory process in which rules are promulgated less frequently but for larger contaminant classes. Such a framework would require the expansion of existing regulatory evaluation technologies to account for joint occurrence distributions of multiple contaminants. This article presents an analysis, using two national contaminant databases, of the joint distributions of seven contaminants (arsenic, nitrate, uranium, manganese, magnesium, calcium, and sulfate) in community water system source waters. Inferences are based on a flexible Bayesian hierarchical modeling structure with numerous features desirable for empirical exploration of multicontaminant regulations, including the simultaneous estimation of spatial heterogeneity in contaminant levels and covariations among contaminants, applicability to sparse data collected over a large spatial scale, and coherent assimilation of information provided by censored observations. The model is used to estimate a family of joint distributions for the contaminants indexed by water system characteristics, with empirically appropriate complexity given the resolution of the available data. The resulting distributions provide insights about the nature of, and uncertainty about, contaminant co-occurrence patterns, quantify the impact on national assessments of jointly modeling the contaminants, and facilitate identification of critical classes of water systems where uncertainty is highest.

QUALITY OF DRINKING-WATER AND ITS RELATION TO GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASE IN CHILDREN.

Evidence from NZ and overseas suggests that gastrointestinal diseases transmitted by drinking-water contribute significantly to the disease burden in developed countries. However there has been no systematic or strategic research in New Zealand to examine the size of the burden of endemic gastrointestinal disease, risk factors for illness, or sources of infection. Our aim was to test the relationship between acute gastrointestinal disease and quality of drinking-water, as measured by (i) actual levels of contamination with indicator organisms and Campylobacter, (ii) transgression of microbial drinking-water standards, (iii) grading of water supply by the Ministry of Health, and (iv) traditional Maori value of the water supply. The sampling frame comprised all primary schools of more than 90 children that were on municipal water supplies. All schools on poor water quality supplies (ie >5% of routine samples contaminated with E. coli) were asked to participate and were matched by geographic location and socioeconomic status with an equal number of schools that had good water quality supplies (ie. those of Aa–Bb grade and that complied with the current New Zealand Drinking-Water Standards). A daily diary was used to gather information about water usage, selfreported gastrointestinal disease (GID) and several potential confounding factors from a cohort of 1,194 primary school-aged children over a sevenweek period, at which time the drinking-water quality at each school was monitored. Preliminary results indicate that poor quality drinking-water supplies are a significant cause of GID, relative risk of 1.35 (95% CI of 1.09–1.65; P < 0.05) and an attributable risk of 0.075. These results must be viewed with caution as only 15% of the pupils at the selected schools chose to participate in the diary study, giving rise to potentially serious selection bias although once enlisted the response rate was 85%. Selection bias was addressed by a preliminary questionnaire that sought information about exposure of 1,194 participants and 1,685 non-participants to confounding factors, which showed that similar exposures were reported by both groups for most attributes measured. However, participants reported significantly higher exposure than non-participants to animals. Conclusion. The elevated risk of GID attributed to poor quality drinking-water applies to the 11% of the population not connected to a community water supply and the 10% that are connected to d or e grade or ungraded community drinking-water supplies, with a population attributable risk of 1.4%.

Rates of notified cryptosporidiosis and quality of drinking water supplies in Aotearoa, New Zealand

An ecological study was conducted in New Zealand to examine the relationship between incidence of human cryptosporidiosis and indicators of community drinking-water supply quality, using routinely collected data from June 1996 to August 1998. A total of 790 cases of cryptosporidiosis lived in communities with a registered drinking-water supply. Within each category of the grading system there was a wide range of rates of cryptosporidiosis. The lowest mean rates of notified cryptosporidiosis were observed in communities served by drinking water supplies with completely satisfactory public health gradings, and the highest rates in communities served by ungraded drinking-water supplies. Mean rates of notified cryptosporidiosis in drinking-water zones that complied with New Zealand drinking-water standards were lower than rates in zones that did not comply with the standards. Current methods of assessing the quality of New Zealand drinking-water supplies reflect in broad terms the risk to human health from Cryptosporidium parvum. Data limitations and uncontrolled confounding mean that the excess risk due to poor quality of the drinking water supply cannot be quantified, but improvements in drinking water quality are likely to be associated with health benefits at the population level. Occurrence of a high proportion of cases in drinking water supplies with a “satisfactory” public health grading highlights the importance of non-waterborne modes of transmission in human cryptosporidiosis.