Scarcity Of Safe Water Research Articles

A Comparative Study between Managed Aquifer Recharge and Other Community Water Supply Options in Coastal Bangladesh

The acute scarcity of safe water exists in disaster-prone coastal Bangladesh due to the occurrences of brackish or saline and arsenic contaminated groundwater, the salinization of freshwater ponds by inundation during storm surges, and brackish water aquaculture. Millions of people living there mainly depend on pond water and rainwater harvesting system and face severe difficulties to collect freshwater, particularly during the dry season. Therefore, various community water supply technologies, e.g., RO, SIDKO, RPWS, SkyHydrants etc. have been established to meet their daily needs, though the majority of these technologies fall short of the value of time and effort of water collection and sometimes fail to supply water of desired quality. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) technique, also a community water supply system, was designed to provide safe water by creating underground storage of freshwater where ambient groundwater salinity is reduced by infiltrating rooftop or pond water through wells. Understanding the need to sort out the best water supply option, a comparative study has been conducted between MAR and other water supply technologies, and among all of them the MAR has been demonstrated as a low cost, reliable, sustainable, and durable option for providing safe drinking water to the community round the year. The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Centennial Special Volume June 2022: 157-166

Evaluation of the Bacterial Quality and Physicochemical Properties of Waterside River Ogbor-Hill Aba, Nigeria

Safe water scarcity is one of Nigeria’s critical challenges, and it is yet to receive adequate attention. Water-borne diseases and Water-related health problems are prevalent. This study evaluated the bacterial quality and physicochemical properties of Waterside River, Ogobor-Hill Aba, Nigeria. The pour plate technique was employed to analyse the 15 water samples obtained from Waterside River bacteriological analysis. The mean of Total Heterotrophic Bacteria Count, Total Coliform Count and Faecal Coliform ( Escherichia coli ) were 1.29x10 6 , 7.4x10 5 and 3.2x10 5 colony forming units (CFU/ml), and the bacterial isolates were Citrobacter spp., Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Shigella spp. The physicochemical parameters that were analysed by standard methods for the analysis of water and waste-water include Temperature, pH, Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn +2 ), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr 6+ ), Iron (Fe +2 ), and Zinc (Zn). All the physicochemical parameters determined were within the standards recommended by the Nigerian Industrial Standard and World Health Organization except Pb (0.21), Mn +2 (1.45), Hg (0.002) and Fe +2 (1.03). The result shows that the Waterside River is unsafe for consumption and application in domestic activities except after proper treatment. The bacterial organisms Isolated have been found to cause diseases, and physicochemical parameters such as Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn +2 ) and Mercury (Hg) can lead to serious health challenges such as poisoning, neurological disorders and even death. Environmental laws that forbade the indiscriminate dumping of domestic and industrial wastes into the Waterside River should be enforced and defaulters sanctioned. Individuals, households and factories should stop transporting solid wastes and waste-water into the river and activities capable of causing pollution of the river should be discouraged.

Economia de Franciso e Clara

Fome coletiva, pobreza extrema, aumento das desigualdades, insegurança econômica, política e social, perda biodiversidade, acidificação dos oceanos, escassez de água segura, aquecimento global. Os desafios deste tempo estão postos à mesa e urgem por novos caminhos que sejam capazes de superar a lógica de exclusão social e severa degradação ambiental resultantes do modelo econômico atual. Debruçando-se sobre o chamado que faz o Papa Francisco aos jovens do mundo para repensar a economia do presente e projetar a economia do amanhã, o presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar motivações e princípios que orientam a proposta feito pelo pontífice, denominada Economia de Francisco, assim como expor como as juventudes brasileiras estão dialogando com este chamado.

Portable and efficient graphene-oxide based multistage filtration unit for water purification

In recent times, ensuring availability of adequate supply of potable water for its citizens is of great concern for nations across the globe. Water purification is a matter of high immediacy in developing countries, where enough supply of clean drinking water is unavailable. Globally, in consideration of the water-related diseases, assurance of an affordable, scalable water treatment infrastructure is of paramount significance. Many states in India face are confronted by scarcity of safe water and pollution, evoked mainly by anthropogenic activities. Majority of the population is unable to either access or afford safe drinking water. More than 60% of this population rely on groundwater for the purpose of drinking alone and on surface waters for all other purposes. In this era of high-water necessity, the aim of this paper is to develop a handy personal, water purifier, which is a ubiquitous, cost-effective access to healthy potable water for humans. This portable water purifier is a multi-stage filter constituted of a fabric filter, graphene-oxide coated sand filter, vetiver grass filter, and a UV filtration system. Water quality test show drastic reductions in the total dissolved solids (TDS), hardness, chloride and calcium ions. Implementation of this filtration unit in water-stressed countries is expected to serve as an efficient and affordable appliance for daily consumption of water.

Characterization of Pond Water Chemistry and Its Potability Status at South-West Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Dacope Upazilla under Khulna district is one of the most affected safe water scarcity regions like any other part of southwest coastal region of Bangladesh. The demands for drinking and cooking water in the area are mostly met from rainwater harvesting and pond water. Pond water from different stations of Dacope Upazilla was analyzed for assessing the water chemistry, source rock evaluation and its potability status. Thirty one samples were collected by purposive sampling and analyzed following standard methods. The analysis reveals that the cations and anions of the ground water showed the order of abundance as Na+> Mg++>Ca++>K+ and Cl->SO4 -->HCO3 - , respectively. Source rock deduction suggests that the water is mostly carbonate weathering of sea water or brine intrusion. Piper diagram suggests that the water is in saline condition. Ionic ratios also justify the aforesaid relations. The chemical constituent of water is (Na++K+) and (Cl- +HCO3 -) type influenced by sea water, however, ponds are in transition zone influenced by tide. With reference to Bangladesh and WHO standards the research states that most pond water do not satisfy the potable quality, therefore management options need to be formulated for further exploitation.
 Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 44(2): 159-171, December 2018

Climate Change, Water Scarcity, and Health Adaptation in Southwestern Coastal Bangladesh

Climate change may affect human health through multiple and interactive pathways that include safe water scarcity. However, impacts of climate change-induced water scarcity on health and well-being are complex. About 80% of illnesses in developing countries are attributed to unsafe drinking water and waterborne diseases. In Southwestern Bangladesh, lack of safe drinking water is a severe crisis due to climate change. The study investigated the impacts of climate change on water resources and human health in a coastal area. A questionnaire survey was carried out in two villages of Shymnagar upazila on the southwestern coast to investigate the present status of safe water sources and health care facilities and their impacts on the local community. The results show that the local community believes that climate change is having substantial impacts on freshwater sources and health. More than 70% of the respondents identified diarrhea, dysentery, and skin diseases as the prime waterborne health risks that occur through climate-related safe water scarcity. By synthesizing the ground data, we suggest pathways to health adaptation to climate change effects and safe water scarcity through locally available adaptive practices such as the use of pond sand filters, rainwater harvesting, and importing potable water with the active participation of the government, nongovernmental organizations, and communities.

The use of wastewater in livestock production and its socioeconomic and welfare implications.

Although epidemiological studies have found a significant amount of toxins in surface water, a complex link between animals' access to wastewater and associated animal and human welfare losses needs to be explored. The scarcity of safe water has put stress on the utilization of wastewater for crops and livestock production. The access of animals to wastewater is related to the emergence of dangerous animal's diseases, hampering productivity, increasing economic losses, and risking human health along the food chain. This review explores use of wastewater for agriculture, epidemiological evidence of microbial contamination in wastewater, and animal and human welfare disruption due to the use of wastewater for crop and livestock production. More specifically, the review delves into animals exposure to wastewater for bathing, drinking, or grazing on a pasture irrigated with contaminated water and related animal and human welfare losses. We included some scientific articles and reviews published from 1970 to 2017 to support our rational discussions. The selected articles dealt exclusively with animals direct access to wastewater via bathing and indirect access via grazing on pasture irrigated with contaminated wastewater and their implication for animal and human welfare losses. The study also identified that some policy options such as wastewater treatments, constructing wastewater stabilization ponds, controlling animal access to wastewater, and dissemination of necessary information to ultimate consumers related to the source of agricultural produce and wastewater use in animal and crop production are required to protect the human and animal health and welfare.

Assessment of fresh water security in coastal Bangladesh: An insight from salinity, community perception and adaptation

Safe drinking water scarcity is an acute problem in the coastal regions of Bangladesh which is mainly caused by salinity intrusion. In this context, drinking water sources are severely affected, including adverse effects on agriculture, health, fisheries and the ecosystem. This research investigates i) selected water quality parameters ii) local people's perception on drinking water scarcity iii) how local people's cope with safe drinking water scarcity. This research was conducted using local water samples, questionnaire survey of 200 households and 4 focus group discussions (FDGs) in Shyamnagar and Tala sub-district of Satkhira district. The study of the water quality parameters exposed the extreme conditions of the drinking water sources in the area. The average values of total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC) and Chloride concentration (Cl−) were found respectively 4044.12 mg/L, 7186.7 μS/cm, and 3143.6 mg/L in Shyamnagar and 2313.60 mg/L, 4390.3 μS/cm, and 1402.1 mg/L in Tala. The result of community perception reveals that local people are aware of the safe water scarcity and nearly all of them perceive that salinity is the main reason behind it. Even though there are a number of socioeconomic factors, communities have their own adaptation technologies to cope with the problem. The study concludes with the development of a community based model defining the key responsibilities of the stakeholders, including local and central government, NGOs and community people to work in a well-coordinated manner which will be effective for reducing the scarcity of the safe drinking water.

Static electricity powered copper oxide nanowire microbicidal electroporation for water disinfection.

Safe water scarcity occurs mostly in developing regions that also suffer from energy shortages and infrastructure deficiencies. Low-cost and energy-efficient water disinfection methods have the potential to make great impacts on people in these regions. At the present time, most water disinfection methods being promoted to households in developing countries are aqueous chemical-reaction-based or filtration-based. Incorporating nanomaterials into these existing disinfection methods could improve the performance; however, the high cost of material synthesis and recovery as well as fouling and slow treatment speed is still limiting their application. Here, we demonstrate a novel flow device that enables fast water disinfection using one-dimensional copper oxide nanowire (CuONW) assisted electroporation powered by static electricity. Electroporation relies on a strong electric field to break down microorganism membranes and only consumes a very small amount of energy. Static electricity as the power source can be generated by an individual person's motion in a facile and low-cost manner, which ensures its application anywhere in the world. The CuONWs used were synthesized through a scalable one-step air oxidation of low-cost copper mesh. With a single filtration, we achieved complete disinfection of bacteria and viruses in both raw tap and lake water with a high flow rate of 3000 L/(h·m(2)), equivalent to only 1 s of contact time. Copper leaching from the nanowire mesh was minimal.