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Climate change is a real, emerging issue in the rural sanitation sector. In an already stressed context, they threaten sustained sanitation progress and outcomes. Yet, evidence gaps continue to exist on how climate impacts affect rural sanitation and hygiene practices and the narratives of people and households at the forefront, experiencing climate impacts on sanitation in rural areas are largely absent. The sector also needs more thinking on how programming can adapt to consider climate hazards. This paper builds evidence on climate impacts on rural sanitation practices through case studies in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Lao PDR. Studies were undertaken through various participatory methodologies to understand and respond to lived experience, differentially experienced impacts and tacit knowledge of climate impacts on rural sanitation. Climate hazards affect sanitation via numerous, dynamic interlinking pathways. The social context and local anthropogenic activities shape how these hazards impact physical access to sanitation infrastructure, access to local resources and markets, and livelihoods needed to support safe sanitation. These impacts include behaviours and practices, infrastructure, and people's capacity to invest in sanitation. Strong implications have emerged for how sanitation practice, research and policy must evolve to account for climate hazards to ensure sustained sanitation outcomes, systemic resilience and programme delivery. The rural sanitation sector must recognize the various interlinkages and distinct experiences of climate across people's daily lives as they have cascading impacts on sanitation practice. Climate considerations must be integrated at every stage of sanitation project delivery, and more holistic pathways must be explored, to ensure root causes of systemic issues such as poverty and vulnerability are considered for sustained and transformative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate change is a real, emerging issue in the rural sanitation sector. In an already stressed context, they threaten sustained sanitation progress and outcomes. Yet, evidence gaps continue to exist on how climate impacts affect rural sanitation and hygiene practices and the narratives of people and households at the forefront, experiencing climate impacts on sanitation in rural areas are largely absent. The sector also needs more thinking on how programming can adapt to consider climate hazards. This paper builds evidence on climate impacts on rural sanitation practices through case studies in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Lao PDR. Studies were undertaken through various participatory methodologies to understand and respond to lived experience, differentially experienced impacts and tacit knowledge of climate impacts on rural sanitation. Climate hazards affect sanitation via numerous, dynamic interlinking pathways. The social context and local anthropogenic activities shape how these hazards impact physical access to sanitation infrastructure, access to local resources and markets, and livelihoods needed to support safe sanitation. These impacts include behaviours and practices, infrastructure, and people’s capacity to invest in sanitation. Strong implications have emerged for how sanitation practice, research and policy must evolve to account for climate hazards to ensure sustained sanitation outcomes, systemic resilience and programme delivery. The rural sanitation sector must recognize the various interlinkages and distinct experiences of climate across people’s daily lives as they have cascading impacts on sanitation practice. Climate considerations must be integrated at every stage of sanitation project delivery, and more holistic pathways must be explored, to ensure root causes of systemic issues such as poverty and vulnerability are considered for sustained and transformative outcomes.

Structured abstract: to evaluate the effects of different conditions of accessibility to drinking water in rural population. Purpose: the way in which water is supplied at home directly influences the health of its inhabitants. In 2017, eight out of ten people living in rural areas did not have access to basic drinking water services or safely managed water services, of which nearly half lived in least developed countries and rural areas. Method/design/approach: a systematic review was carried out, through metadata analysis, selection of methodologies adopted and the relationships established by the authors between different conditions of access to water and hygiene and health, well-being, water quality, time and cost. The main methodologies adopted are questionnaires and univariate statistical analysis, applied in an associated or not. Results and conclusion: the closer the rural household is to the water collection point, the better the conditions for developing their productive activities. High indoor plumbing costs, especially for individual catchment solutions, may force some households to use unsafe sources of water supply. It was possible to identify the impacts of the lack of internal plumbing and the difficulty of accessing water in rural communities. Research implication: understand and highlight the relationship between internal plumbing and its possible effects on humans, especially in rural areas. Originality/value: it can provide subsidies for public policies on internal plumbing, assisting in the construction of indicators that guide the elaboration and evaluation of these policies. Objetivo: avaliar os efeitos das diferentes condições de acessibilidade à água potável em populações rurais. Referencial teórico: a maneira como ocorre o abastecimento de água no domicílio influencia diretamente a saúde dos seus habitantes. Em 2017, oito em cada dez pessoas que moram na zona rural não tinham acesso a serviços de abastecimento de água potável básicos ou serviços de água gerenciados de forma segura, dos quais, quase a metade viviam em países menos desenvolvidos e em áreas rurais. Método: foi realizada uma revisão sistemática, analisando metadados, metodologias adotadas e as relações estabelecidas pelos autores entre diferentes condições de acessibilidade à água e higiene e saúde, bem-estar, qualidade da água, tempo e custo. As principais metodologias adotadas são questionários e análise estatística univariada, aplicados de maneira associada ou não. Resultados e conclusão: quanto mais próximo o domicílio rural está do ponto de coleta de água, melhores são as condições para desenvolverem suas atividades produtivas. Custos altos com canalização interna, especialmente para as soluções individuais de captação, podem forçar algumas famílias a utilizar fontes inseguras de abastecimento de água. Foi possível identificar os impactos da ausência de canalização interna e a dificuldade de acesso à água em comunidades rurais. Implicações da pesquisa: entender e evidenciar a relação entre a canalização interna e os seus possíveis efeitos no ser humano, principalmente em áreas rurais. Originalidade/valor: pode fornecer subsídios para as políticas públicas sobre canalização interna, auxiliando na construção de indicadores que orientem a elaboração e avaliação dessas políticas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equitable access to sanitation for all is a goal of sustainable development, notably in rural areas. However, studies including economic, socio-cultural, and other factors that have been conducted to comprehensively assess rural sanitation at the community level in developing countries are limited. This study aimed to investigate the current state of rural environmental sanitation on the community level and to evaluate the characteristics of the diverse sub-clusters. A multidimensional environmental sanitation survey was conducted on 400 communities in Chongqing, China in 2020, and the priority options for improving sub-clusters’ sanitation were explored using cluster analysis. Among all communities, more than 60 % had positive village appearance, 50.50 % had domestic sewage treatment, and the coverage rate of household sanitary toilets was 72.28 %. The average content for lead, cadmium (Cd), and chromium in soil was 26.01, 0.53, and 54.47 mg/kg, respectively. The communities were clustered into 3 groups (I, II, III) based on similar characteristics including basic information, village appearance, water, sanitation, hygiene management, bio-vector control, and soil pollution. The proportion of cluster I, II, and III was 39.25 % (157/400), 31.75 % (127/400), and 29.00 % (116/400), respectively. Each cluster had its sanitation characteristics, and significant differences among the sub-clusters were observed in Cd of soil (p = 0.001), domestic sewage disposal ratio (p

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The goal of the present research is to comprehend the existing state of health among residents of Anaikatti village in the Coimbatore district. The most prevalent diseases and signs of health problems have been covered. The public' perceptions of health concerns and their causes are also examined. The study takes a qualitative method. The research is based on real- time data gathered from a poll of Anaikatti Village inhabitants. Convenience sampling was used to choose the respondents. The research included 168 participants in all. To analyse primary data, statistical techniques such as percentage analysis, descriptive statistics, and ANOVA are applied. The findings show that some areas of the neighbourhood have inadequate drinking water and sanitary care. Legislators and healthcare practitioners, with the help of non-governmental organisations, must take adequate actions to ensure safe drinking water and sanitary facilities. Frequent health camps, free distribution of medications for common symptoms, actions to increase the nutritional content of food consumed, distribution of nutritional supplements, and frequent doctor visits may aid in the identification of previously undiagnosed illnesses and improve overall health. An in-depth research into prevalent genetic disorders is also recommended, while immunisations against seasonal diseases may aid in boosting immunity against seasonal sickness in toddlers and the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Saúde e Sociedade is the property of Universidade de Sao Paulo, Faculdade de Saude Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The design principles of decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) make them a practical sanitation option for municipalities to adopt in fast-growing cities in South Africa. Since 2014, a demonstrationscale DEWATS with a modular design consisting of a settler, anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR), anaerobic filter (AF), vertical down-flow constructed wetland (VFCW) and horizontal flow constructed wetland (HFCW) has been in operation in eThekwini. A performance evaluation after the long-term operation was undertaken in 2019 by comparing the final effluent with national regulatory requirements. Despite limitations in characterising the raw wastewater, a comparison of the settler and final effluent quality indicated high (≥ 85%) removal efficiencies of total chemical oxygen demand (CODt), ammonium-N (NH4-N) and orthophosphate-P (PO4-P), 75% removal of total suspended solids (TSS) and 83.3% log10 removal of Escherichia coli. Lack of exogenous and endogenous carbon and high dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations (> 0.5 mg·L−1) inhibited denitrification in the HFCW, resulting in 12.5% of the effluent samples achieving compliance for nitrate-N (NO3-N). Moreover, mixed aggregate media and low residence times in the HFCW may have also contributed to poor NO3-N removal. During the COVID-19 lockdown, an unexpected shutdown and subsequent resumption of flow to the DEWATS indicated a 16-week recovery time based on achieving full nitrification in the HFCW. Although design modifications are necessary for the HFCW, the installation of urine diversion flushing toilets at the household level will reduce the nutrient loading to the DEWATS and potentially achieve fully compliant effluent. Alternatively, the application of two-stage vertical flow constructed wetlands to improve denitrification should also be explored in the South African context. With an improved design, DEWATS has the potential to fill the gap in both urban and rural sanitation in South Africa, where waterborne sanitation is still desired but connections to conventional wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) are not possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several rural technology options exist on the sanitation market with different characteristics, yet project failures in some developing countries were attributable to inappropriate technology choices. Frameworks that are used to select sanitation technology options (hard copy, computer programmes) were developed by researchers and project implementers. They vary in design and application as there is no standard format. This appears to create a gap between science and practice. Frameworks should have some key elements needed to select appropriate sanitation technologies. We evaluated 12 available frameworks (2000–2019) used to select sanitation technologies in rural communities of low- and middle-income countries against 22 assessment criteria derived from literature. Criteria that were not fully addressed by some of the reviewed frameworks (scores of 8–50%) included equity, sanitation demand, sanitation behaviour change, ongoing contact, replicability, framework limitations, personnel selection and flexibility. Addressing such limitations may assist in future framework development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is considered as a basic human right. Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (Rural), launched by the Government of India in 2014, is hailed as an attempt towards that direction. On 2nd October 2019, India was declared free from open defecation, with rural households having full toilet coverage. However, despite Government claims, the existing literature indicates the presence of slippage: where households practice open defecation despite having access to toilets. Equating progress in sanitation interventions with mere toilet provision presents a partial assessment of sanitation. To address the gap, the ‘Sanitation Well-being’ framework, based on Amartya Sen's concept of justice, has been proposed. It identifies slippage as an outcome of various underlying factors across the sanitation life-cycle. The framework provides a lens to analyse existing frameworks and secondary data sets and finds that they do not capture the dynamism inherent in the sector. The efficacy of the framework has been tested in the rural district of Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India, through the rapid rural appraisal method. Through our investigation, we found that slippage exists in the field, and that the framework is a feasible instrument to assess sanitation as a comprehensive phenomenon. HIGHLIGHTS Toilet coverage is an insufficient measure to evaluate progress in sanitation.; Slippage is an occurrence, where people practice open defecation despite having access to toilets.; The proposed framework captures the retrospective nature of sanitation unlike existing frameworks and datasets.; It studies well-being through expansion in people's ability to experience sustained sanitation outcomes.; The existence of slippage is verified and the framework identifies potential areas of slippage.;

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. HIGHLIGHTS Communal sanitation infrastructure's long-term functionality depends on its value to the community, the capacity of the community to contribute, and the availability of external support.; We develop a framework to explore the effects of these determinants on the life-cycle cost of communal sanitation infrastructure.; Results suggest that investment in capacity building and demand stimulation reduce the life-cycle cost.;

The search for sustainable environmental processes is primordial for the world and, in semi-arid regions where freshwater resources are scarce, the search for non-conventional alternatives for water use should be intensified. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate, under the legal aspects of agricultural reuse and soil quality, the use of treated graywater as a water source for acerola plants cultivated in the Brazilian semiarid region. The study was conducted in the rural area of Juazeiro/Bahia with treated graywater from a family adapted biofilter composed of layers of sawdust, coarse sand, gravel and pebbles. Monthly microbiological and physical-chemical analyses of the graywater and soil analyses were performed. It is concluded that there is a diversity of parameters and limit values that makes the interpretation and legal framework of graywater for irrigation difficult, with no single regulation. The greywater promoted an improvement in the chemical quality of the soil, with a decrease in the availability of Al and an increase in the Ca, Mg and P contents. The reuse of greywater for irrigation met the environmental and sustainability criteria by not being discharged directly into the soil and by being used for a noble purpose such as the irrigation of agricultural crops. However, it is necessary to have a legal regulatory unification at the national level, which establishes standards and guidelines for the practice of graywater reuse.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study provides new insight of the environmental governance on community levels. • Higher cadmium content of soil affect the sustainability of community. • Community characteristics with cluster analysis help identify relevant recommendations. • Hierarchical control strategies are recommended to improve rural sanitation. Equitable access to sanitation for all is a goal of sustainable development, notably in rural areas. However, studies including economic, socio-cultural, and other factors that have been conducted to comprehensively assess rural sanitation at the community level in developing countries are limited. This study aimed to investigate the current state of rural environmental sanitation on the community level and to evaluate the characteristics of the diverse sub-clusters. A multidimensional environmental sanitation survey was conducted on 400 communities in Chongqing, China in 2020, and the priority options for improving sub-clusters' sanitation were explored using cluster analysis. Among all communities, more than 60 % had positive village appearance, 50.50 % had domestic sewage treatment, and the coverage rate of household sanitary toilets was 72.28 %. The average content for lead, cadmium (Cd), and chromium in soil was 26.01, 0.53, and 54.47 mg/kg, respectively. The communities were clustered into 3 groups (I, II, III) based on similar characteristics including basic information, village appearance, water, sanitation, hygiene management, bio-vector control, and soil pollution. The proportion of cluster I, II, and III was 39.25 % (157/400), 31.75 % (127/400), and 29.00 % (116/400), respectively. Each cluster had its sanitation characteristics, and significant differences among the sub-clusters were observed in Cd of soil (p = 0.001), domestic sewage disposal ratio (p < 0.001), and environmental health funding (p = 0.001). To sum up, the environmental sanitation in rural areas of Chongqing was better than that of the national average in China, but the Cd content of farmland soil was higher. Our study provides novel evidence for assessing the characteristics of rural sanitation at the community level, and communities with similar environmental health status were clustered into the same group, while the heterogeneity of different sub-cluster was thoroughly characterized. The hierarchical control strategy should be performed in communities based on different characteristics and deficiencies of the clusters to improve environmental sanitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study concerning multivariate analysis, including social and financial aspects, as well as environmental impacts, of the organized sanitation development under conditions of the selected rural settlement in Poland. Three technologically up-to-date variants of sanitary sewerage network concepts with the different assumed sewage transport, i.e., pressure, pressure-gravity and gravity, were proposed together with the investment and operation and maintenance costs estimation. The willingness-to-accept (WTA) and willingness-to-pay (WTP) survey was used to analyze the level of social acceptance and involvement. The financial analysis covered two economic and cost-efficiency dynamic indicators, benefits–costs ratio (BCR) and dynamic generation cost (DGC), commonly used to support the decision-making process. The environmental aspects were assessed by the possible anthropopressure caused by sewerage leakage and odor emissions. Results of the WTA and WTP survey presented a significant level of acceptance and involvement of the local population to sustain the improved sanitation. The determined values of DGC indicated low cost-efficiency of the gravity system, while obtained values of BCR for all variants and the actual regional sewage fees showed the low profitability of improved sanitation, i.e., BCR < 1.0. All studied sanitation systems were assessed positively due to their environmental impacts. The performed studies showed that, despite the declared willingness to accept the organized sanitation and to pay the sewage fees, the economical sustainability of the proposed designs is doubtful over the longer time duration due to the significant capital and operation costs affecting the sewerage payment value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural water and sanitation systems are administered by district municipalities and community organizations, but the service provided by most of these systems has not been efficient, since the drinking water they offer is not healthy, safe, continuous, or fully social access, solid waste is not properly disposed of, wastewater is not treated and the natural sources that provide this service are not protected, so the comprehensive sustainability of these systems is not assured. The national norm establishes that in rural areas the district municipalities are in charge of providing water and sanitation services to the population in their jurisdiction, directly through the municipal management units (UGM) and indirectly through of community organizations such as the administrative boards of sanitation services (JASS), to which the municipality entrusts the responsibility but must provide them with technical assistance, training and supervision so that they can perform the service well. The district municipality of Leimebamba, in the province of Chachapoyas, department of Amazonas, is a local government in rural areas that is in charge of technical assistance, training and supervision of water and sanitation services provided by all seven communitarian organizations recognized as JASS by the mayor authority. The fulfilment of these municipal functions requires that the municipality has a set of capacities, resources, instruments, equipment and materials that allow it to assist, monitor and evaluate the integral and sustainable management that the JASS must develop during the provision of water services. and sanitation in their communities. An essential element to fulfil this guiding role is to have an instrument to periodically assess whether the management carried out by the JASS is implemented in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. To this end, this ongoing research is experimentally developing, together with the Municipal Technical Assistance Office (ATM) of Leimebamba, an index for evaluating the sustainability of rural sanitation systems in the district. This index considers the social, economic, environmental, technical and institutional dimensions as the most important aspects to assess the comprehensiveness and sustainability of rural sanitation systems, identifying in each of these dimensions the key factors and indicators to be taken into account. The index was subjected to expert judgment by 3 specialists using a Linkert scale to assess the clarity, coherence and relevance of the indicators. The values found in each allowed a selection of indicators, choosing 77 according to the experts' assessments. Likewise, the values obtained indicate that the index allows estimating the comprehensiveness and sustainability of rural sanitation systems. A first experimental application of this index has been carried out in the 2 main JASS of Leimebamba, the JASS Palmira that serves 512 residents and the JASS Dos de Mayo that serves 912, which together serve 75% of the rural population served. by JASS, the main reason why these two community organizations were selected as subjects of the experimental application. For this first application of the instrument, the index was compared with the information provided by the regional supervisory entity, SUNASS Amazonas in its supervision reports, and with the information obtained in the interviews held with the leaders of both JASS and the responsible municipal official. from the ATM office. The results of the application indicated that the sustainability levels of both JASS are at the stable level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The household sanitation target during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period used a binary "Improved"/"Unimproved" metric to evaluate progress. The "Unimproved" category was divided into three service levels: Shared Sanitation (facilities acceptable), Unimproved Facilities, and Open Defecation (no facility). Despite these data being publicly available, no analysis of country-level progress across these sanitation service levels during the MDGs has been published. We propose that retrospective analysis of progress across service levels can illuminate the diverse approaches used to address particular urban and rural sanitation deficits, and may provide insight to national and global actors in their ongoing efforts to address household sanitation. Additionally, we propose that a Sanitation Ladder Score, weighted to ascribe full, partial, and no credit to use of improved, shared and unimproved, and open defecation, respectively, is essential for concise communication of progress. Our analysis required gap-filling of data missing from the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) dataset; our final dataset consists of 190 countries representing 99.8% of global population. 149 countries achieved greater progress on the Sanitation Ladder Score than on the MDG metric. Using the four JMP progress categories, 144 countries fell into the same progress category and 41 achieved a higher category of Ladder Score progress. Countries with large gains in shared sanitation tended to have much greater progress on the Sanitation Ladder Score than on the MDG metric. A more detailed analysis is reported for six countries, with insight from the literature into their approaches. This Sanitation Ladder Score could be modified to incorporate the new "Safely Managed" service level tracked under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and likewise could be modified for other SDG targets for which multiple levels of service/achievement are reported. We encourage others to build upon our analysis; our complete dataset is freely available online (https://melliott.people.ua. edu/data.html). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is considered as a basic human right. Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin (Rural), launched by the Government of India in 2014, is hailed as an attempt towards that direction. On 2nd October 2019, India was declared free from open defecation, with rural households having full toilet coverage. However, despite Government claims, the existing literature indicates the presence of slippage: where households practice open defecation despite having access to toilets. Equating progress in sanitation interventions with mere toilet provision presents a partial assessment of sanitation. To address the gap, the 'Sanitation Well-being' framework, based on Amartya Sen's concept of justice, has been proposed. It identifies slippage as an outcome of various underlying factors across the sanitation life-cycle. The framework provides a lens to analyse existing frameworks and secondary data sets and finds that they do not capture the dynamism inherent in the sector. The efficacy of the framework has been tested in the rural district of Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India, through the rapid rural appraisal method. Through our investigation, we found that slippage exists in the field, and that the framework is a feasible instrument to assess sanitation as a comprehensive phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, the Rural Water and Sanitation Support Program in Kosovo (RWSSP) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has significantly increased the access to public water supply of the rural population of Kosovo. Currently in Phase VI, the programme is supporting the regional water companies of Kosovo to protect the water resources used for public water supply. This article presents the programs phase VI output 2.5.1: improved water source protection. The programme started to support the first implementation of a ground water protection zone (locally called sanitary protection zone) in Kosovo according to laws and through a systematic process. This article describes the full process of establishing sanitary protection zones for public groundwater wells in Kosovo and reveals the technical and administrative challenges and lessons learned when doing so. The technical investigations require detailed surveys starting from geological, hydrogeological and morphological field work as well as monitoring of groundwater levels, realization of additional piezometers, calculation of hydrogeological parameters and several more. For the Lipjan well field, a hydrogeological computer model was established to understand groundwater flow and to delineate the three necessary groundwater source protection zones. The technical understanding further requires a pollution survey and water quality analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study concerning multivariate analysis, including social and financial aspects, as well as environmental impacts, of the organized sanitation development under conditions of the selected rural settlement in Poland. Three technologically up-to-date variants of sanitary sewerage network concepts with the different assumed sewage transport, i.e., pressure, pressure-gravity and gravity, were proposed together with the investment and operation and maintenance costs estimation. The willingness-to-accept (WTA) and willingness-to-pay (WTP) survey was used to analyze the level of social acceptance and involvement. The financial analysis covered two economic and cost-efficiency dynamic indicators, benefits–costs ratio (BCR) and dynamic generation cost (DGC), commonly used to support the decision-making process. The environmental aspects were assessed by the possible anthropopressure caused by sewerage leakage and odor emissions. Results of the WTA and WTP survey presented a significant level of acceptance and involvement of the local population to sustain the improved sanitation. The determined values of DGC indicated low cost-efficiency of the gravity system, while obtained values of BCR for all variants and the actual regional sewage fees showed the low profitability of improved sanitation, i.e., BCR < 1.0. All studied sanitation systems were assessed positively due to their environmental impacts. The performed studies showed that, despite the declared willingness to accept the organized sanitation and to pay the sewage fees, the economical sustainability of the proposed designs is doubtful over the longer time duration due to the significant capital and operation costs affecting the sewerage payment value.

Copyright of Revista Retratos de Assentamentos is the property of Revista Retratos de Assentamentos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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.

In this study, an advanced oxidation process using ozone application in a fixed-bed reactor filled with bio-rings was used for purification and disinfection of cattle wastewater (CWW) previously treated in a UASB reactor. The O3 concentration applied to the reactor was 7.8 mg L−1 (±1). Four ozonation times were tested in a batch process: T1 = 0.5 h, T2 = 1 h, T3 = 1.5 h and T4 = 2 h. The pH values tended to increase with the time of contact between liquid and gas. COD and BOD5 removal of 55 and 64% was recorded in T4. Color and turbidity were reduced by 88.5 and 93.4%, while total solids and total suspended solids were reduced by 65.7 and 93.5%, respectively. Oils and greases were completely removed from the wastewater. Electrical conductivity did not vary significantly between treatments, and its association with the presence of cations, such as Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+, suggests good quality of the water ozonated in T4 for application in the soil, with no risk of salinization. High concentrations of nitrogen compounds were removed, but the efficiency in removing phosphate compounds was low. Coliform removal of above 99% was achieved with T3. Only the CWW ozonated in T4 is recommended for irrigation of raw-consumed crops. Based on most parameters analyzed, the CWW treated in T4 would also be suitable for discharge into water bodies according to Brazilian legislation, suggesting that this technology could be applied in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgorund: Access to improved sanitation facility for all is an essential to maintain good health and wellbeing. However in India, millions of people suffer from diseases and infections due to lack of adequate sanitation. Realising the importance of sanitation and hygiene, Government of India announced the flagship programme Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in 2014. One of the important features of SBM is to provide financial assistance to construct individual household latrine facility. It is important to understand the impact of SBM on pattern and access of households to latrine facility in Indian states. Objective: This paper tries to examine the pattern and trends in access to individual household latrine facility from an inter-state perspective and convergence in access to latrine facility among the states after the implementation of SBM. Methods: Data have been obtained from Census, reports from Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, GOI and Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin website for the period 2011 to 2018. Sigma and beta convergence techniques have been employed to analyse the convergence in access to toilet facility and percent and ratios are employed to analyse the pattern. Results: The findings of the study confirmed the positive impact of SBM in increasing the access to toilet facility in rural India and convergence in access to toilet facility among Indian states in post SBM implementation. During the period 2014-2018, ie, after implementation of SBM, the increase in sanitation coverage at national level is four times higher than the progress made during the decade of 2001 to 2011. Many of the States have reported 100 percent open defection free Villages in the year 2018. So Implementation of SBM not only improves the share of households having latrine facility, but it has widely reduced the gap between high and low income states in access to the sanitation facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, a third of our national territory does not provide access to drinking water and basic sanitation services on a stable basis. To ensure that the more than six million Colombians living in these territories witness a real transformation, the 'Peace with Legality' policy, through the Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDETs, in Spanish), aims at ensuring that the efforts of all actors involved, directly and indirectly, who endeavor for the stability of these regions - the most violent and poorest in Colombia - are geared towards satisfying basic needs. Only in this way will a firm step be taken towards reducing the social gaps that have historically afflicted them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work looks at sustainability aspects regarding water treatment for rural areas. In Colombia, although there is a broad legal and regulatory framework, low coverage and deficiencies in rural water quality persist. There are encouraging cases, where community schemes sustain their systems with treatment technologies. The sustainability of these technologies and service management in this context requires other approaches and strategies in which socio-technical innovations, strengthening of community management, support from secondlevel community organizations, and development of Community Learning Centers are an essential part of the purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to drinking water and basic sanitation at the rural level is a challenge for our country, especially for municipalities that must ensure that all its inhabitants have water and sewer services. This must be addressed within the framework of policy, institutionality and standards that have historically been developed to provide solutions to complex problems associated with these services. Colombia has made significant progress in the last decade, but a structural overhaul is required, with cross cutting perspective, the participation of all Government levels and recognizing the need to strengthen community management, so that all actors involved can sustainably ensure coverage and quality services throughout the national territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expands on the experience of Peru regarding policies, plans and strategies to ensure access to drinking water for rural communities which, according to current regulations, are communities with less than 2,000 inhabitants. It explains in general terms the process followed for rural sanitation and the policy guidelines on sanitation from the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation. Likewise, it reviews the main strategies used to ensure access to drinking water for rural communities in Peru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El articulo discute sobre la agua potable en el sector en Colombia con el enfoque de la gestión de las recursos del agua potable. El articulo también se centra en la el planeamiento administrativo gubernamental actua ramificaciones sanitarias y ambientales en el sector urbano y rurales y n la planeación de un recurso del agua para toda actividad en el sector rural. .

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Este estudo analisou as relações entre condições de saneamento e energia elétrica e a Leishmaniose Tegumentar Americana (LTA) no estado do Acre. Utilizou-se os dados obtidos do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação entre 2001 e 2010 para correlacionar variáveis por meio da técnica de análise de componentes principais. O resultado indicou associação direta entre LTA e características inadequadas de moradia que podem ser agravantes à ocorrência dessa doença, como o abastecimento de água em rios ou lagos, o armazenamento de água da chuva, a destinação dos resíduos sólidos jogados em terrenos baldios e a falta de energia elétrica, estas em áreas rurais; em áreas rurais e urbanas, a ausência de banheiro ou esgotamento sanitário; e em áreas urbanas, em associação inversa, amenizando a ocorrência da LTA, o esgotamento sanitário utilizando fossa séptica. As associações encontradas sugerem que as condições inadequadas de saneamento contribuem para o aumento da exposição da população aos vetores da LTA. ================================================ This paper analyzes the relationship between sanitation and electricity service conditions, and American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) in Acre. For this study we considered the cases reported in the Brazilian System for Disease Notification between 2001 and 2010, using the principal component analysis. The analysis suggested a direct association between ACL and inadequate housing characteristics –that worsen the occurrence of this disease-, such as: water supply in river or lakes, rainwater storage, disposal of solid waste dumped in vacant lots, and absence of electricity service, in rural areas; and absence of bathrooms and sanitation, in both urban and rural areas. An inverse association arises, mitigating the occurrence of ACL, in urban areas, by using septic tanks for sewage. The associations found in this study suggest that inadequate housing conditions contribute to increasing the population’s exposure to vectors of ACL.

Copyright of Ambiência is the property of Revista Ambiencia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sanitation is an essential component of health and overall social wellbeing. The government has implemented several programmes from time to time to ensure total sanitation for all, but the goal has not been achieved so far. Launching of 'Swachh Bharat Mission' (Clean India Mission) has ushered in lot of prospects and opened up new opportunities to intervene and make India a healthy place to live. Under the overall ambit of this mission, West Bengal has been implementing 'Mission Nirmal Bangla' (Clean Bengal Mission), which has made steady progress on construction of toilets but usage situation has not changed significantly. Based on the secondary data, this article reviews the situation in West Bengal, locates the present challenges and suggests some strategies under the broad framework of rights-based approach to ensure the usage of toilets to make the state clean and healthy in near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the rural community management service level can effectively optimize the rural community living condition, provide a better social environment for rural residents to start up business and promote the living standard of rural residents. This paper presents quantitative research on the correlation between rural residents’ living standards and rural community management service levels on the basis of 16 municipalities’ data in Anhui province in 2015. The results of the study are as follows: road mileage per every ten thousand people, rural water improvement profitability and rural sanitary toilet penetration have a decisive influence on the improvement of living standards in Anhui rural areas; specifically, the first pair of canonical variables has a fairly accurate predictive ability in road mileage per every ten thousand people, rural water improvement profitability, rural sanitary toilets penetration, per capita disposable income and per capita consumption expenditure but has a poor predictive ability in the enrollment rate of the new rural cooperative medical system. Additionally, the first pair of canonical variables can explain and predict the corresponding variables quite well, and the rural community management service level has an evident interaction effect with the living standard of rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural sanitation is still a challenge in developing countries, such as Brazil, where the majority population live with inadequate services, compromising public health and environmental safety. In this context, this study analyzed the demographic density of these rural agglomerations using secondary data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The goal was to identify the possibilities associated with using small-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors for sewage treatment, mainly focusing on biogas production and its conversion into energy for cooking, water heating and sludge sanitization. Results showed that most rural agglomerations lacking the appropriate sewage treatment were predominant from 500 to 1500 inhabitants in both northern and southern Brazilian regions. The thermal energy available in the biogas would be enough to sanitize the whole amount of sludge produced in the sewage treatment plants (STPs), producing biosolids for agricultural purposes. Furthermore, the surplus of thermal energy (after sludge sanitization) could be routed for cooking (replacing LPG) and for water heating (replacing electricity) in the northern and southern regions, respectively. This would benefit more than 200,000 families throughout rural areas of the country. Besides the direct social gains derived from the practice of supplying biogas for domestic uses in the vicinity of the STPs, there would be tremendous indirect gains related to the avoidance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, an anaerobic-based sewage treatment may improve public health conditions, life quality and generate added value products in Brazilian rural areas.