Securing Safe Water Supplies

Comparison of Applicable Technologies

Erik Voigt, Henry Jaeger, Dietrich Knorr

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780124058866
• eBook ISBN: 9780124059115
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Environmental Management
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Available water disinfection systems rely mainly on large-scale filtration and the combination of filtration (to remove solids), and subsequent application of chemical disinfectants. This has proven to produce water of acceptable quality. Important points for application in household systems are low complexity, few training requirements, and easy transportation and distribution as well as a sufficiently high acceptance by the user.Written and endorsed by the European Federation of Food Science and Technology thisbook compares a variety of purification systems. There is a growing evidence base on targeting water quality improvements to maximize health benefits, and it is believed that 4% of the global disease burden could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. Better tools and procedures to improve and protect drinking-water quality at the community and urban level, for example, through Water Safety Plans include the availability of simple and inexpensive approaches to treat and safely store water at the household-level.- Provides single-source comparison of advantages and disadvantages relevant to the various practices of multiple water treatments- Acknowledges the limitations of governmental interventions that need to be supplemented by individual practices such as home implementation systems- Provides practical implementation insights and perspectives via graphs, tablesand charts that make information readily accessible and comparable

Chapter 1

Introduction

“No single measure would do more to reduce disease and save lives in the developing world than bringing safe water and adequate sanitation to all.”

—Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General (1997–2006)

In the UN Millennium Development Goals, signed in 2000 by 189 countries, target “7c” states that by the year 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation should be halved (from 65% to 32%).¹ This goal includes improved access to sanitation, drinking water sources, better hygiene and improved water quality (by municipal or home water treatment), which will verifiably reduce the diarrhoeal morbidity as depicted in Figure 1.1.

Fig. 1.1 Reduction in diarrhoeal diseases morbidity resulting from improvements in drinking water and sanitation services.²

1.1 Waterborne/Water-Related Diseases

In 2004, the World Health Organization published information, which depicted that every year more than 3.4 million people die as a result of water-related diseases, making it the leading cause of disease and death around the world. Most of the victims are young children, the vast majority of whom die of illnesses caused by organisms that thrive in water sources contaminated by raw sewage.³ Poor water quality continues to present a major threat to human health. Diarrhoeal disease alone amounts to an estimated 4.8% of the total DALY (disability-adjusted life years) global burden of disease (GDB) (8.6% for the African Region), and is responsible for the death of 1.8 million people every year.⁴ Nine out of the ten such deaths are children, and virtually all of these deaths occur in the developing countries.⁵ It was estimated that 88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and it is mostly concentrated on children in the developing countries.^4,6,7 In the developing countries, it is predominantly children under the age of five who suffer from diarrhoea: according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation,⁸ around two million children die from this illness each year.⁹ In 2004, 16.8% of all deaths among children worldwide were caused by diarrhoea (see Figure 1.2).⁸ By comparison, according to the Ugandan Water and Sanitation Resource Centre, approximately 310,000 people died in Africa as a result of conflicts in 1998.⁹

Fig. 1.2 Causes of death among children under 5 years old worldwide between 2000 and 2003.²

The need to provide sanitation both for drinking water and hygiene remains a huge challenge today in developing countries.¹⁰

1.2 Natural Disasters

Natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies occur on a recurring basis. In 2010 and January 2011, natural disasters and crises, including severe drinking water supply problems, took place in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Colombia and Australia (flooding), Haiti (earthquake), DR Congo and Darfur/Chad (conflicts), Somalia (conflict, drought, flooding) and Zimbabwe (humanitarian crisis).¹¹ In 2010 alone, there were 373 natural disasters with a total death toll of 296,800 people, 207 million affected persons and an estimated damage of 109 billion US Dollars (78.9 billion Euros). The top 10 natural disasters by number of deaths are shown in Table 1.1. The 10 worst disasters of the last century (1900–2000) are listed in Table 1.2 according to death toll. Table 1.3 gives an overview on large disaster events impacting on cities over the period 2000–2010. Tables 1.1 and 1.3 are overlapping at the Haiti earthquake disaster in January 2010.

Table 1.1 Top 10 Disasters in 2010 by Number of Deaths¹²

Table 1.2 Ten Worst Disasters of the Last Century (1900–2000) According to Death Toll¹³

Table 1.3 Large Disaster Events Over the Period 2000–2010 Impacting on Cities¹⁴

Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database (www.emdat.net), Université Catholique de Louvain – Brussels – Belgium.
Facts and figures on water quality and health and occurrence of natural disasters (as given by the World Health Organisation¹⁵).

The global health challenge: preventing water quality-related disease:

• No safe drinking-water: almost 1 billion people lack access to a safe water supply

• Diarrhoeal disease: 2 million annual deaths attributable to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene

• Cholera: more than 50 countries still report cholera to the WHO

• Cancer and tooth/skeletal damage: millions exposed to unsafe levels of naturally occurring arsenic and fluoride

• Schistosomiasis: an estimated 260 million infected

• Emerging challenges: increasing use of wastewater in agriculture is important for livelihood opportunities, but also associated with serious public health risks

The health opportunities: implementing good practice:

• Four percent of the global disease burden could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene

• A growing evidence base on how to target water ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. The Need of Water Decontamination in Disaster Areas and Areas with a Deficiency in Clean Drinking Water
• Chapter 3. Basic Principles of Water Decontamination in Disaster Areas
• Chapter 4. Key Facts About Implementing Home Water Treatment (HWT)23
• Chapter 5. Established Basic Methods for Water Decontamination
• Chapter 6. Comparison of Systems Available on the Market
• Chapter 7. Conditions and Requirements for a Successful PEF System Implementation and Resulting Advantages of This Method in Comparison to Established Methods
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Sources/Literature