Rural Sanitation Research Articles

Sustainability and long-term impact of community-managed water supply in rural Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

How can Community Managed Water Supply (CMWS) become more sustainable? Recent studies in several countries indicate that the sustainability of many CMWS is poor. As a result, their long term impact on village lives is limited. This paper presents the findings of research on the sustainability and long-term impact of a group of CMWS created by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. This project adopted a Community-Based Approach to maximize the sustainability and long-term impact of its CMWS. The research assessed the sustainability of these CMWS a decade after their completion. It used six measures to assess sustainability and examined four long-term impacts. The results are compared with studies from other countries. The influence of Community-Based Approach (CBA) on the results is discussed. Recommendations are made for changes in policies and strategies to improve the sustainability and long term impact of future CMWS in Central Asia and elsewhere.

Impact Analysis of Environmental Regulation and Improvement of Agricultural Economic Efficiency on Living Environment Based on Systematic GMM Model.

The living environment is of vital importance to human beings and is also the basis for their survival and development. Along with the accumulation of people's production and living experience, people are seeking their own development while studying the living environment more deeply. In recent years, various regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the relevant decisions and deployments. They have promoted the construction of rural infrastructure and the equalisation of basic public services between urban and rural areas, so that the rural living environment can be gradually improved. The rapid development of urban-rural integration has brought great opportunities and challenges for rural development, making rural development issues increasingly complex and affecting the effectiveness of the construction of a new rural habitat. At the same time, the agricultural economy is the basis of national economic development, and the ecological environment provides a certain amount of material environment for the development of the agricultural economy. Therefore, research on the harmonious development of the agricultural economy and the ecological environment has always been a hot issue for the authorities concerned. After all, China's agricultural economic development mode is characterized by a rough-and-ready approach, and the agroecological environment continues to deteriorate, leaving the issue of sustainable agricultural development to be resolved. What is worse, in the practice of agricultural production, the related agricultural activities have brought serious pollution to the environment. Specifically, the carrying capacity of the agricultural ecological environment is declining, leading to an increasingly serious conflict between sustainable agricultural economic development and the construction of an environmentally friendly and resource-saving society. In China, although the industrialization process is accelerating, the agricultural population still accounts for a large proportion of the population. As people's living standards continue to improve, a favorable living environment has become an urgent need for farmers. As a result, strengthening the construction of rural infrastructure, improving rural living conditions, and improving rural environmental sanitation are important issues that need to be addressed urgently. Therefore, to further investigate the impact of environmental regulation and agricultural economic efficiency on the habitat, this study constructs a systematic GMM model using panel data for 30 provinces and regions in China from 2011 to 2021.

An Evaluation of the CLTS Implementation Process from the Beneficiary Perspective: A Cross-sectional Study from the Bole District of the Savannah Region, Ghana

CLTS is by far the most widely implemented rural-based sanitation intervention across lower middle-income countries worldwide. Today, within the National Environmental Sanitation policy (NESP), CLTS has been acknowledged as the preferred approach to scale-up rural sanitation and hygiene in Ghana. The approach focuses on igniting a change in sanitation behaviour rather than constructing toilets. This research was intended to evaluate the CLTS implementation process from the beneficiary perspective in Bole District. The cross-sectional study employed the mixed method approach using questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews in collecting data from a sample of <i>137</i> households from <i>20</i> communities. In addition, <i>2</i> Environmental Health Officers, <i>10</i> Natural Leaders and <i>1 </i>management team member of Bole District Assembly were also interviewed. The qualitative data were manually analyzed using thematic content analysis and the quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS version 22.0. The findings of the study revealed high level of knowledge about the CLTS concept among the participants (66.3%). The study further revealed that the entire CLTS implementation process within the district was largely in line with established CLTS implementation processes and procedures. However, specific activities such as enactment of community regulations, children and local authority involvements in the implementation process was either not carried out or was poorly done. In terms of the general impression of the participants about the CLTS implementation process, majority of the respondents rated the process as below standard. The study recommends the development and enforcement of a comprehensive CLTS implementation framework by the government.

Potential Use of Constructed Wetland Systems for Rural Sanitation and Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture in the Moroccan Context

Located in a semi-arid to arid region, Morocco is confronting increasing water scarcity challenges. In the circular economy paradigm, the reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture is currently considered a possible solution to mitigate water shortage and pollution problems. In recent years, Morocco has made significative progress in urban wastewater treatment under the National Wastewater Program (PNA). However, rural sanitation has undergone significant delays. Therefore, an alternative technology for wastewater treatment and reuse in rural areas is investigated in this review, considering the region’s economic, social, and regulatory characteristics. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are a simple, sustainable, and cost-effective technology that has yet to be fully explored in Morocco. CWs, indeed, appear to be suitable for the treatment and reuse of wastewater in remote rural areas if they can produce effluent that meets the standards of agricultural irrigation. In this review, 29 studies covering 16 countries and different types of wastewater were collected and studied to assess the treatment efficiency of different types of CWs under different design and operational parameters, as well as their potential application in agricultural reuse. The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency of conventional contamination such as organic matter and suspended solids is generally high. CWs also demonstrated a remarkable capacity to remove heavy metals and emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, care products, etc. The removal of microbial contamination, on the other hand, is challenging, and does not satisfy the standards all the time. However, it can be improved using hybrid constructed wetlands or by adding polishing treatment. In addition, several studies reported that CWs managed to produce effluent that met the requirements of wastewater reuse in agriculture of different countries or organisations including Morocco.

China should focus beyond access to toilets to tap into the full potential of its Rural Toilet Revolution

In China, over 47 million toilets in rural areas have been upgraded since the nationwide sanitation program, popularly referred to as the “toilet revolution”, was launched in 2015. However, little is known about the perceptions of rural households regarding these new toilets or the fate of human excreta collected using them. To investigate the other side of the toilet revolution, we surveyed 980 rural households from 22 provinces across China in 2020. We found that most households used an on-site sanitation system (i.e. septic tanks and pit latrines), where urine and feces were mixed and collected (88%), stored in pits or tanks (79%), emptied by the households themselves (60%), applied on farmland as fertilizer (45%), or used for biogas production (5%). Despite the toilet revolution-driven infrastructure upgrade, only 25% of the households were satisfied with their sanitation system and pointed to health risks from issues in the toilet interface and the treatment and reuse of excreta as areas of concern. The majority preferred an “out of sight, out of mind” approach, in which the local government handles excreta without involving the households and without asking them to pay for such management. Meanwhile, 80% supported the idea of local nutrient recycling and believed that human excreta should return to farmland as fertilizer or used for biogas production. Our findings suggest that decision makers in local governments across China must urgently explore ways to upgrade all parts of the sanitation service chain so that rural sanitation can be truly improved to positively influence the progress on other national sustainability goals.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Pattern Differences of Environmental Sanitation Facilities in Rural China: Taking the Improvement of Water and Latrines as an Example

Based on the panel data of water and latrine improvement in rural China from 2003 to 2016, this paper explores the spatiotemporal evolution pattern of rural sanitation facilities and analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of influencing factors of rural sanitation facilities by using the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model. The conclusions are as follows: the gap between the western and the eastern regions of China is gradually narrowing; the spatial differences of rural environmental sanitation facilities in provinces were obvious, showing high-high and low-low agglomeration types. Additionally, years of education per capita, population density, and government investment all have a significant positive impact on the improvement of water and latrines. And the proportion of the minority population has a significant negative impact on the improvement of water. The net income per capita, traffic density, and residential investment per capita are significantly positively correlated with the improvement of water and latrines. But the difference is that the impact on the improvement of water is an obviously east-west band and decreases successively, and the impact on the improvement of latrines shows a dual pattern of polarization between north and south.

Community Governance tensions of rural drinking water utilities in periurban territories (Chile)

Unlike the private concession model applied in urban zones, rural water sanitation services in Chile are managed by rural drinking water (RDW) committees or cooperatives, under a community governance model. This article seeks to understand the tensions and conflicts faced by RDW community governance in the peri-urban territories of regional capitals, which are at the frontier of the private drinking water management model. Based on a political ecology and hybrid governance approach, this research proposes the hypothesis that, on facing urban expansion and water scarcity, the neoliberal institutional framework tends to favour drinking water market governance in peri-urban territories. With this aim, and through semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, focusing on three RDW cases located in the peri-urban zone of Talca, this study develops a critical discourse analysis of community managers and government regulators, identifying their perceptions and positions on current socio-ecological transformations, and community governance tensions. Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, from discourse analysis, it is possible to infer the potential risks of privatization, derived from the implementation of Law No. 20,998, which regulates rural water sanitation services.

Socio-environmental analysis of the rural zone of Espírito Santo do Dourado/MG: a perspective for future integration policies

Issues referring to environmental conservation and diagnosis of rural zones are still scarce topics inside public policies and this aspect still requires greater attention. That being, the goal of this research was to present a diagnosis of the rural area of a small city in the South of the Minas Gerais State, with typical agricultural characteristics and large availability of water in order to verify possible socio-environmental inconsistencies. The data was gathered from secondary information of the federal, state, and town public databases, besides face-to-face questionnaires, rapid assessment protocols and high-definition satellite mapping of land use for the last few years. It was possible to assess that conservation actions and Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) are reduced and that interviewed people present limited knowledge about public policies of family farming stimulation. As per rural basic sanitation, practical action by local governments must be prioritized. The conclusion of this diagnosis is to suggest that further investments should be prioritized to assist social and environmental segments.

Impact of regional water supply, sanitation et hygiene (WASH) program in Senegal on rural livelihoods and sustainable development

Abstract In 2006, Senegal benefited from the African Development Bank's (AfDB) Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) a WASH sub-program for 17,100 households in rural areas in the regions of Louga, Ziguinchor and Kolda. A project results assessment was conducted in 2016 by the AfDB Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) to measure the sub-program impacts on the living conditions of the communities. This approach allowed the measurement of project impacts based on comparative pre-and post-intervention data, as well as beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries' groups considering collected quantitative data (963 households, 38 schools, 23 health centres and 46 GPS points of infrastructures) and qualitative data (31 individual interviews and 4 focus group discussions). Several analyses (descriptive statistics, correlative analysis, effects and impact analysis with Average Treatment Effect (ATE) and cartographic treatment) were carried out to determine the project's results indicators as well as their overall effects. The results show an access rate of 73% for drinking water among beneficiaries against 6% among non-beneficiaries, and an access rate of 72% for sanitation (improved latrine) in the treatment areas against 33.7% in the control areas. In sub-program focus areas, an increase in the quantity of water used per household by 157 liters, a reduction in water price by 0.072 USD and reduction in time taken to supply drinking water of 65 minutes were observed. Also, it was noted a reduction in arduousness of carrying water by 2 km from the supply point, an increase in the schooling rate of children, especially girls, in income-generating activities, a decrease in the number of sick people avoided by 2 persons and increase in medical treatment avoided were noted. The progress made by the project's achievements demonstrate that improvement in water access, sanitation and hygiene access is one of the main drivers and levers of change and transformation of the households' living conditions in rural areas, often explaining the priority given to this area of intervention within the implementation of the MDGs and SDGs. HIGHLIGHTS Increase of water and sanitation level access in rural areas. Links between WASH and improved living conditions of communities. Water and sanitation are major issues for communities' sustainable development. Water and sanitation are main determinants for reducing poverty incidence, improving well-being and health and community development.

Operational performance of corncobs/sawdust biofilters coupled to microbial fuel cells treating domestic wastewater

Biofilters coupled to microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are the most integral treatment technology that generate water-energy nexus for rural zones sanitation. Moreover, biofilters coupled to MFCs, using organic residues as bed filter have not been studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was comparatively to evaluate biofilters based on corncobs/sawdust coupled to MFCs treating domestic wastewater. Biofilters based on corncobs/sawdust (50%, v/v) as bed filter incorporating microorganisms (BM), earthworms/microorganisms (BEM, Eisenia foetida Savigny), plants/microorganisms (BPM, Canna indica L.), and all organisms (HB) were evaluated. These biofilters were coupled to 2 electrochemical systems based on graphite cathodes with graphite (G)/stainless-steel mesh (M) anodes. Three nominal hydraulic loading rates (0.3, 0.5, and 1 m3 m−2 d−1) evaluating removal of organic matter, nutrients and pathogens were monitored. Voltage within electrochemical systems also were registered. Results demonstrated that biofilters based on corncob/wood chips coupled to MFCs reach mean organic matter removal efficiencies over 80% (COD: 86%, BOD5: 91%). Nevertheless, HBG was the most efficient (up to 6%) biofiltration technology monitored. The biofiltration typologies studied reported removal efficiencies of nutrients (NH3-N, PO43−) and pathogens (fecal coliforms) up to 99%. Specifically, BMG and HBG were the biofiltration typologies that registered the highest energy recovery (up to 104 mV, 29 mW m−2). Within all the biofiltration typologies studied, the hybrid biofiltration coupled to MFCs using graphite (HBG) is the one that offers the best water-energy nexus conditions, thanks to its biological complexity.

Factors influencing sustainability of open defecation free (ODF) status in rural India: A cross sectional study

Tackling a simple and sensitive concern of ‘Open Defecation (OD)’ is such a compounded and righteous challenge that enormous efforts and resources are needed to bring in the desired changes in the villages. Towards this, attaining open defecation free (ODF) status by providing toilet facilities to every household is the foremost step in rural sanitation programme under Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM –G) being implemented by the Government of India. The present paper aims to examine the factors that have influence in attaining ODF status in rural areas. In this study, various parameters that contribute to attaining ODF status in the villages were identified and an extensive primary survey was conducted in 32,390 households across 686 rural villages in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, India. The empirical analysis of the data using a multinomial logistic regression model revealed that the factors such as water availability, safe excreta disposal, technology used for toilet construction and awareness on Swachh Bharat have an influence in achieving the open defecation free status in the villages to a greater extent.

OVERVIEW OF DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA

Accessibility to safe and clean domestic water by households is paramount for personal and developmental health at all levels in Nigeria. Kano State Water Board (KSWB) was saddle with responsibility of domestic water supply to the entire state. The state have about 22 water treatment plants that source, treat and distribute water to the residents of the study area. The data collected were from secondary sources, descriptive statistics was the statistical instruments used in the data analysis. KSWB supply about 415 million litres daily (MLD) to the Kano city and its environs and about 92 MLD to local government headquarters and semi-urban areas. Similarly, there about 50 commercial water standing pumps being operated and maintained by KSWB to ease water supply to nook and crannies of the state.Where pipe borne water is not connected, boreholes, hands pumped and concrete wells are constructed by Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) to ease water supply at sufficient quality and quantity to rural communities in the state.

The how tough is WASH framework for assessing the climate resilience of water and sanitation

Climate change presents a major threat to water and sanitation services. There is an urgent need to understand and improve resilience, particularly in rural communities and small towns in low- and middle-income countries that already struggle to provide universal access to services and face increasing threats from climate change. To date, there is a lack of a simple framework to assess the resilience of water and sanitation services which hinders the development of strategies to improve services. An interdisciplinary team of engineers and environmental and social scientists were brought together to investigate the development of a resilience measurement framework for use in low- and middle-income countries. Six domains of interest were identified based on a literature review, expert opinion, and limited field assessments in two countries. A scoring system using a Likert scale is proposed to assess the resilience of services and allow analysis at local and national levels to support improvements in individual supplies, identifying systematic faults, and support prioritisation for action. This is a simple, multi-dimensional framework for assessing the resilience of rural and small-town water and sanitation services in LMICs. The framework is being further tested in Nepal and Ethiopia and future results will be reported on its application.

Drinking Water Practices, Quality and GIT Disturbances at Household Level in Rural Setting of Wardha District, Maharashtra, India

Introduction: Limited availability of safe drinking water and poor sanitation can lead to water borne diseases. In India, alone waterborne diseases are projected to have an economic burden of approximately USD 600 million a year. Rural population face water, sanitation, and hygiene-related health issues. In India, many programs are running since decades, but there is need to understand current scenario of drinking water practices in the community.&#x0D; Objectives: To assess the drinking water practices, purification methods, drinking water quality at household level and Gastrointestinal GIT disturbances among the visited household.&#x0D; Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted during July-December 2019 in purposively selected three villages of field practice area JNMC, Wardha. Sample size is calculated to be 96 household and rounded up to 100 for each village (total 300 household). Households of Village A, B, and C are 392, 388 and 381 respectively. 100 household were selected by systematic random sampling method. Information was collected by interviewing adult at home after verbal consent by using Pre-structured, pre-tested questionnaire. Randomly ten water samples from each village tested for quality.&#x0D; Results: Most of the household i.e. 80% have water source in their premises into dwelling (47%) or own yard (32%). Overall 61% of the household had adopted purification method. Village-wise distribution for adoption of purification methods, it is found significantly highest in village C and lowest in A (X2 -8.54, p=0.013). On an average 25% of the household reported that family members were suffered from gastrointestinal disturbances. Village-wise distribution for GIT disturbances cases, it is found significantly highest in village A and lowest in C (X2-19.25, p=0.0001). Most common purification method is filtration by using cloth or net by 41%. Total 76.67% water samples were contaminated.&#x0D; Conclusion: Village which shows higher percentage of HH adopted purification method suffered less from GIT disturbances. Most of water samples were unsafe for drinking purpose. Hence community can be aware through an integrated approach such as Village, health sanitation and nutrition committee can be strengthened.

Poor awareness and attitudes to sanitation servicing can impede China's Rural Toilet Revolution: Evidence from Western China

The ongoing Toilet Revolution in China offers an opportunity to improve sanitation in rural areas by introducing new approaches, such as urine source separation, that can contribute to achieving SDG6. However, few studies have systematically assessed the social acceptability of managing human excreta collected in new sanitation systems. Therefore, in this study we performed face-to-face interviews with 414 local residents from 13 villages across three provinces in western China, to analyze the current situation and attitudes to possible changes in the rural sanitation service chain. We found that the sanitation chain was predominantly pit latrine-based, with 86.2% of households surveyed collecting their excreta in a simple pit, 82% manually emptying their pits, and 80.2% reusing excreta in agriculture without adequate pre-treatment. A majority (72%) of the households had a generally positive attitude to production of human excreta-derived fertilizer, but only 24% agreed that urine and feces should be collected separately. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that three factors (level of education, number of permanent household residents, perceived social acceptability) significantly influenced respondents' attitudes to reuse of excreta, although only perceived social acceptability had a high strength of association. Overall, our survey revealed that rural households often misuse toilet systems, fail to comply with government-specified sanitation guidelines, have low awareness of alternative solutions, and are over-reliant on the government to fix problems in the service chain. Thus while new sanitation technologies should be developed and implemented, information campaigns that encourage rural households to manage their excreta safely are also important.

Scenario-based life-cycle cost assessment to support sustainable investment in rural communal sanitation facilities: application to a school-based sanitation facility

Abstract Despite decades of investment in widening access to improved sanitation, much of the world still lacks access to functional sanitation facilities. Through much of the Global South, toilets are inoperable and often abandoned. Failure to understand and account for the whole-life cost of sanitation infrastructure, as well as the interplay between context-specific socio-economic determinants, is one explanation for this reduction in the service life of shared sanitation infrastructure. This issue is especially salient in school-based and communal facilities in middle- to low-income countries. Drawing on a case study of a sanitation facility in a government school in rural south India, we explore the relationship between user value, community-based capacity, and external support in determining the costs of operating and maintaining sanitation facilities over their lifetime. We develop a scenario-based life-cycle cost assessment methodology to examine the relational impact of these determinants on the ‘real’ cost of shared sanitation infrastructure. The analysis concludes that investment and interventions that stimulate demand and enhance the capacity of a community are the most cost-effective options for ensuring the sustainability of sanitation facilities in our case study site. We then reflect on the applicability and limitations of these findings for a wider range of communal sanitation facilities.

Prevenir y construir: El desarrollo de la ingeniería sanitaria en la salud pública peruana (1900-1962)

In Peru, the processes associated with population growth and the expansion of public assistance demanded the specialization of new technical knowledge for the planning and execution of sanitary works. In this context, sanitary engineering began occupying spaces in the programs to combat tropical diseases and basic urban and rural sanitation. Through the analysis of specialized engineering and health journals, as well as memoirs, reports, and other unpublished and published documents, this article examines the transformation of Peruvian health institutions and how this process permitted the gradual incursion of sanitary engineers into the public health field. At the same time, it analyzes the dynamics between national and international actors that allowed the institutionalization and professionalization of sanitary engineering between 1900 and 1962.

Good Governance in Gram Panchayat: A Case Study of Michael Pattinam

The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act, 1994 was enacted to deliver good governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions. Despite more than two decades of democratic decentralisation, the Gram Panchayats face challenges in good governance due to devolution of powers, transparency and accountability. Against this backdrop, this article makes a pioneering attempt to examine the eight elements of good governance in Gram Panchayat for the purpose of learning and policymaking. The case study unfolds that the Gram Panchayat has succeeded in the elements of consensus-oriented, effectiveness and efficiency whereas it failed in participation, rule of law, equity and inclusiveness as well as responsiveness in good governance. The caste affinity, religious affiliation and class have influenced the Gram Panchayat president position to Panchayati Raj Institutions since 1994. The Gram Panchayat development activities consist of small savings, rainwater harvesting, rural sanitation, rural infrastructure, rural housing, environment and minority-majority relationship while it gave less importance to poverty, health, education and employment due to various socio-cultural, economic and political reasons, which influence as well as inhibit rural development in Gram Panchayat.

Willingness to pay for improvements in rural sanitation: Evidence from a cross-sectional survey of three rural counties in Kenya.

Poor sanitation worldwide leads to an annual loss of approximately $222.9 billion and is the second leading cause of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY's) lost due to diarrhoea. Yet in Kenya, the slow rate and levels at which the household's access improved sanitation facilities remain a concern, and it is unknown if the cost of new technologies is a barrier to access. This study assessed the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for SAFI and SATO sanitation products and identified those factors that affect the willingness to pay (WTP) valuation estimates by households in three counties in Kenya. It used quantitative economic evaluation research integrated within a cross-sectional survey. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to determine the maximum WTP for sanitation in households. We used the logistic regression model in data analysis. A total of 211 households were interviewed in each county, giving a total sample size of 633 households. The mean WTP for SAFI latrines was $153.39 per household, while the mean WTP for SATO pans and SATO stools was $11.49 and $14.77 respectively. For SAFI latrines, households in Kakamega were willing to pay $6.6 more than average while in Siaya, the households were willing to pay $5.1 less than the average. The main determinants of households WTP for the two sanitation products included household's proximity to the toilet (p = 0.0001), household income (β = .2245741, p = 0.004), sanitation product (β = -2968.091; p = 0.004), socioeconomic status (β = -3305.728, p = 0.004) and a household's satisfaction level with the current toilet (β = -4570.602; p = 0.0001). Increased proximity of households to the toilet, higher incomes, and providing loan facilities or subsidy to poor households could increase the demand for these sanitation technologies.

VIAGEM A SERVIÇO DO ESTADO

No século XIX o Pará conheceu um enriquecimento a partir do látex, mas também epidemia de malária e escassez de alimentos. Para sanar estes problemas, Lauro Sodré, governador do Estado, concedeu incentivos “civilizatórios” e financiou viagens de fiscalização, como a de Ignácio Moura à Itacayunas em 1896. Este defendeu a pecuária e o saneamento rural como chaves do desenvolvimento local, identificando as febres intermitentes (malária) como entraves. Assim, com base teórica da História Social e Política, apoio metodológico da análise textual discursiva e por meio da fonte literatura de viagem, objetivamos analisar a construção do discurso político-social que utiliza as doenças adquiridas nos castanhais como justificativa para se alterar a dinâmica econômica regional.