Interruptions In Water Supply Research Articles

An Overview of Disasters Resulted from Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on disasters caused by Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan. The torrential rainfall is regarded as the main cause, so information on the torrential rainfall is explored first. The maximum cumulative rainfall depth observed during Typhoon Morakot approached the world’s greatest point rainfall record, and isohyets of cumulative rainfall depth are included, together with storm centers. Storm centers are important to disasters resulted from Typhoon Morakot, because these disasters occurred around or downstream from storm centers. Disasters triggered by Typhoon Morakot include floods, landslides, landslide dams, driftwood accumulation, and water supply disruption. Those occurring simultaneously or consecutively at one location are termed “compound hazards.” Current warning systems for single disasters may not be sufficient to handle compound hazards, suggesting that we must develop new systems for issuing early warnings about compound hazards.

Analysis of Risk of Interruption in Water Supply to Consumers

Analysis of Risk of Interruption in Water Supply to ConsumersWater supply system belongs to the so called critical infrastructure of cities, and it should be a priority task for waterworks to ensure the suitable level of its safety. In this paper a method to analyse risk of interruptions in water supply to consumers was proposed. For Rzeszów water supply system maps of risk of interruptions in water supply to consumers have been developed. Results demonstrate the validity of the new tank for reliability of water supply.

Sustainable water use at olympic dam

The majority of water to the Olympic Dam mine and the nearby townships of Roxby Downs and Andamooka is supplied from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). There are no permanent local water sources available to Olympic Dam. The use of water from the Great Artesian Basin by Olympic Dam receives considerable attention by BHP Billiton and is extensively regulated by the Government of South Australia. Olympic Dam has robust business management systems in place to ensure the sustainable use of water from the GAB including ISO9001 and ISO14001 systems to deliver the targeted outcomes and obligations of the Olympic Dam Environmental Management and Monitoring Program. The management systems ensure that Olympic Dam retains accountability for its water demand from the GAB over the life of the mine. This accountability has delivered continuous improvement in water use efficiency driven by operating discipline, implementation of water saving projects, using water on a fit for purpose basis including substitution from non-GAB sources, and risk management to prevent and mitigate water supply disruptions to Olympic Dam and Roxby Downs. Since the establishment of Olympic Dam, BHP Billiton has funded a reduction in GAB water flow from bores, previously going to waste, that is greater than the annual average flow used by Olympic Dam.

Managing Water to Protect Fish: A Review of California’s Environmental Water Account, 2001–2005

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the landward reach of the San Francisco Estuary, provides habitat for threatened delta smelt, endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, and other species of concern. It is also the location of huge freshwater diversion facilities that entrain large numbers of fish. Reducing the entrainment of listed fishes into these facilities has required curtailment of pumping, reducing the reliability of water deliveries. We reviewed the first 5 years (2001-2005) of the Environmental Water Account (EWA), a program instituted to resolve conflicts between protecting listed fishes and providing a reliable water supply. The EWA provided fishery agencies with control over 0.2-0.4 km(3) of water to be used for fish protection at no cost to users of exported water, and fish agencies guaranteed no disruption of water supply for fish protection. The EWA was successful in reducing uncertainty in water supply; however, its contribution to the recovery of listed fishes was unclear. We estimated the effectiveness of the EWA to be modest, increasing the survival of winter-run Chinook salmon by 0-6% (dependent on prescreen mortality), adult delta smelt by 0-1%, and juvenile delta smelt by 2-4%. Allocating EWA water for a single life stage of one species could provide larger gains in survival. An optimally allocated EWA of equal size to the median of the first 5 years could increase abundance of juvenile delta smelt up to 7% in the springs of dry years. If the EWA is to become a long-term program, estimates of efficacy should be refined. If the program is to be held accountable for quantitative increases in fish populations, it will be necessary to integrate scientific, possibly experimental, approaches.

Household characteristics associated with home water treatment: an analysis of the Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey

The objective of this study is to understand the characteristics of households who treat their water in the home. In promoting home water treatment, there may be valuable lessons to be learnt from countries with many home water treatment users. Responses to the new Demographic and Health Survey question on water treatment were analysed for 21,972 Egyptian households interviewed during 2005. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between home water treatment and household characteristics. 5.9% (CI 5.2-6.7%) of households used home water treatment, mostly either home filtration or letting water stand to settle. Filtration use was significantly related to educational attainment and wealth, whilst letting water stand to settle was related to use of stoneware water vessels, groundwater sources, and water supply disruptions. The Egyptian data suggest that 4.5 million people use home water treatment and confirm some water handling behaviours reported elsewhere. Because of limited detail in the DHS data about the technologies used and their effectiveness, it is unclear whether this behaviour reduces waterborne disease. Further research should consider how such data can be augmented with additional information to address this question.

Estimating business and residential water supply interruption losses from catastrophic events

Following man‐made or natural catastrophes, widespread and long‐lasting disruption of lifelines can lead to economic impacts for both business and residential lifeline users. As a result, the total economic losses caused by infrastructure damage may be much higher than the value of damage to infrastructure itself. In this paper, we consider the estimation of economic impacts on businesses and residential consumers resulting from water supply disruption. The methodology we present for estimating business interruption losses assumes that marginal losses are increasing in the severity of disruption and that there may be a critical water availability cutoff below which business activity ceases. To estimate residential losses from water supply interruption, we integrate consumers' demand curves, calibrated to water agency price and quantity data. Our methodologies are spatially disaggregated and explicitly account for the time profile of infrastructure repair and restoration. As an illustration, we estimate the economic losses to business and residential water users of one of the major water supply systems of the San Francisco Bay Area of California resulting from two potential earthquake scenarios, a magnitude 7.9 event on the San Andreas Fault and a magnitude 7.1 event on the Hayward Fault. For the business loss estimation, our modeling framework is general enough to calculate and compare losses using loss functions from several previous studies. Estimated business and residential losses for the San Andreas event are $14.4 billion and $279 million, respectively. For the Hayward event, estimated business and residential losses are $9.3 billion and $37 million, respectively.

Avaliação da eficácia e da possibilidade da contaminação da água em eliminadores de ar fabricados em polipropileno, quando instalados em cavaletes de ligações de água potável - estudo de caso: Juiz de Fora - MG

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a eficácia e a possibilidade de contaminação da água em determinado tipo de equipamento eliminador de ar, fabricado em polipropileno. Sua operação foi estudada em nove pontos de consumo no município de Juiz de Fora - MG, com reclamações recorrentes de consumidores sobre intermitência no abastecimento. O trabalho de campo teve duração de 11 meses. Para avaliar a eficácia do equipamento, foi instalado, em série com o cavalete da ligação de água, um novo cavalete composto por dois hidrômetros, separados pelo eliminador de ar. Comparados os consumos acumulados pelos dois hidrômetros nos pontos, verificou-se uma variação de + 4,51% a - 2,02%. Pelos resultados obtidos, pode-se afirmar que o emprego do eliminador de ar na rede de abastecimento de água de Juiz de Fora - MG não apresentou benefício significativo para o consumidor. Contudo, 91% dos equipamentos testados apresentaram possibilidade de contaminação da água.

Do We Need To Modify Our Approach to Legionella Prevention in the Setting of Natural Disasters?

ISSUE: Legionella is an important cause of nosocomial pneumonia, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality in oncology patients. Prior to the opening of a new cancer center (CC) building at our institution in 2000, chlorine dioxide (CD) disinfection of the water system was implemented to be in compliance with CDC and state health department guidelines for water treatment. The CC houses solid tumor, leukemia, and lymphoma patients, as well as bone marrow transplant recipients. Routine surveillance cultures (SCs) of the water (usually 27 sites) is performed quarterly. Although initially SC revealed growth of Legionella and gram-negative species in the water, growth decreased significantly during the first 18 months of implementation of the CD system. No Legionella pneumophila (LP) had ever been isolated. CD levels could be maintained below 0.4ppm (lower than EPA recommendations) without significant growth. After an unusually large amount of rainfall this past spring and summer, followed by flooding and disruption of the city's water supply associated with Hurricane Isabel, scheduled SCs revealed LP type 1 in 9 of 12 sites. LP also grew in the city water. PROJECT: The CC was placed on water restrictions to protect the vulnerable patient population. Patients were given bottled water to drink and bathed with prepackaged clothes; they were not allowed to use the tap water. The water was treated with higher concentrations of CD to supplement the baseline in the system. Water faucets were opened for 10 minutes each day to ensure that CD-treated water reached terminal sites. RESULTS: There were no clinical cases of Legionella identified before or after expanded CD treatments. Follow-up cultures after the first treatment grew LP in 7 of 14 sites. After two additional treatments, SCs revealed successful eradication of Legionella. Routine SCs remain negative for Legionella. LESSONS LEARNED: CD has proven to be an effective method of disinfecting a water system in a CC that houses high risk patients. Institutions should be aware of the potential for increased bioburden in water after heavy rainfall or hurricanes and should consider surveillance or “prophylactic” treatment to protect the water in healthcare systems.

Conflicts in Africa as Compound Disasters: Complex Crises Requiring Comprehensive Responses

This paper reflects on African conflicts as compound disasters. A compound disaster is defined as an emergency situation with adverse consequences resulting from different, but related, disaster‐agents (ICLA, 1996). In a natural disaster situation, for instance, an earthquake that is quickly followed by a fire outbreak, gas leakage, the disruption of water supply and the outbreak of water‐borne diseases, would be regarded as a compound disaster. Similarly, armed conflicts trigger a chain of consequences. The focus of this paper is the complexity of the consequences and impact of conflicts in Africa. To a lesser extent, the paper looks at the complex causes of the conflicts themselves and, finally, examines challenges with regard to responses.

The estimation of marshland degradation in southern Iraq using multitemporal Landsat TM images

Characterization of the marshlands of southern Iraq using Landsat TM data enabled an estimation of the rate at which disruption of water supply has led to the collapse of the ecosystem. Image classification techniques were used to estimate vegetation distribution using an NDVI image, and the areal coverage of water, using bands 1 to 5 of the TM. The Al Amarah marsh to the north of the Euphrates River has seen a reduction of 90 per cent in its areal extent between 1992 and 1994. South of the Euphrates river the Hawr al Hammar marsh has undergone a similar reduction in areal extent between 1992 and 1994, but the collapse of vegetation occurred predominantly between 1993 and 1994. Vegetation collapse appears to be linked to the completion of drainage projects that prevent the influx of nutrient rich spring flood waters to the marshes. East of the Tigris river, the Hawr al Hawizah marsh was observed to have undergone a decline of 40 per cent in the amount of vegetation present between 1992 and 1994. Inundation northwest of a series of barrages around the northern perimeter of the Hawr al Hawizah marsh in 1993 and 1994 suggests that disruption of the influx of water from the Nahr al Musharrah river is the cause of vegetation decline.

Epidemic suppression packages in disasters: A public health viewpoint

Communicable disease outbreaks may emerge several days after a sudden large disaster in which there has been disruption and contamination of water and food supply, breaking of sewer lines, garbage accumulation, loss and destruction of housing and breakdown of personal sanitation. Water-borne diseases (typhoid, cholera, hepatitis) and “Dirt” diseases (impetigo, shigella) are targets of public health strategies of suppression. Restoration of the water supply for drinking and for washing is probably the most important step in aborting spread of communicable disease. For diarrhoea and enteritis, case detection and immediate antibiotic treatment of affected cases and close contacts are sensible temporary measures for suppressing morbidity and spread. Post-disaster mass immunization campaigns are the “golden calf” of disaster medicine. Pre-disaster education of the public should emphasize this point. Measures to restore the sanitary infrastructure (water supply, garbage disposal, sewage disposal, vector and rodent control) remain basic to infectious disease control in the post-disaster recovery period. Anticipating the need for those measures remains basic to pre-disaster planning.

A PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM FOR CIVIL DEFENSE EMERGENCY FEEDING OPERATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY

A disaster brought about through atomic or bacteriological warfare will create stupendous environmental sanitation problems of which food control will be only a smaller part. The food problem in the disaster area may be dealt with from three points of view:Contamination (radioactive, sewage, glass and debris) :Processing problems caused by disruption of water supply and power; andMass feeding (not only in the disaster area but also in evacuation areas).A comprehensive emergency plan for a large metropolitan area is presented which is based largely on prior training and instruction of the sanitarian.