By Rose Delaney, Staff Writer & Researcher for Save The Water\u2122 | March 8, 2019<\/p>\n
In a nutshell, “Household Water Treatment and Storage” is an important public health initiative that improves global access to water. Significantly, it improves the quality of water by treating it in the home.<\/p>\n
At present, 780 million people worldwide can\u2019t access a clean and safe water source.1<\/span> Consequently, close to 2 million children under the age of five die from poor water and \u00a0hygiene every year.2<\/span><\/p>\n Can you imagine hundreds of children in the United States dying from a preventable disease such as diarrhea everyday?<\/p>\n Evidently, most people in developed countries such as the United States access clean, safe water on a daily basis. Thus, why can\u2019t people in developing countries such as Kenya do the same?<\/p>\n For one thing, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) ensures the “availability of water and sanitation for all.\u201d<\/p>\n In the same fashion, Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS) tackles the challenge of unclean and thus unsafe water in developing countries.3<\/span><\/p>\n Significantly, HWTS practices prevent widespread \u00a0water-related diseases. Moreover, it contributes to poverty reduction and improved health across developing countries.4<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, less time spent trying to access clean water sources means more time for \u00a0productive work. Additionally, clean water sources reduce healthcare costs caused by water-related diseases.5<\/span><\/p>\n Actually, HWTS reduces diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and hepatitis E.6,7<\/span><\/p>\n Basically, educating and training people on hygiene and how to implement HWTS is essential. Also, importantly, HWTS can help save millions of lives by introducing clean water.<\/p>\n First, let’s look at diarrhea<\/strong>. Undoubtedly, when people can\u2019t access clean water, they don\u2019t prioritize hand washing.1<\/span> In fact, about 842,000 people die each year from diarrhea as a result of\u00a0poor sanitation.8<\/span><\/p>\n Evidently, children under five are \u00a0most likely to get diarrhea. What\u2019s more, a global estimate suggests that 19% of children die from diarrhea annually.<\/p>\n Specifically, 73% of these deaths occur in 15 developing countries.5,7<\/span> To be sure, implementing HWTS \u00a0for hand-washing reduces diarrhea.<\/p>\n Second, let’s look at schistosomiasis<\/strong>. This disease harms over 700 million people in 74 countries.9<\/span> That is to say, its devastating effects compare to malaria.<\/p>\n Basically, snails carrying parasitic worms in contaminated freshwater cause this disease. In developing countries, people use local water sources to urinate and to defecate. Therefore, the disease spreads quickly.9<\/span><\/p>\n Surprisingly, schistosomiasis is a \u201cneglected tropical disease.\u201d Indeed, it causes bladder cancer as well as kidney and liver problems.9<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, infected children suffer from anemia and malnutrition. Therefore, improving access to household toilets can significantly reduce this disease.<\/p>\n Lastly, let’s look at Dengue Fever<\/strong>. Generally, insects that breed in household water containers spread this disease.10<\/span> Overall, 2.5 billion people \u00a0live in regions at risk of dengue fever.10<\/span><\/p>\n Evidently, symptoms include fever, mild bleeding and muscle pain. Even more, these symptoms can progress to severe bleeding, shock, and death.<\/p>\n Interestingly enough, one \u00a0method to reduce the disease includes safely covering water containers.4,10<\/span><\/p>\n To sum up, we can achieve HWTS for everyone. But we must educate and communicate behavioral changes about hygiene and sanitation in developing countries.<\/p>\n By Rose Delaney, Staff Writer & Researcher for Save The Water\u2122 | March 8, 2019 What\u2019s Household…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12812,"featured_media":114065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,61],"tags":[315,320],"yst_prominent_words":[1608,715,1155,613,1001,1925,708,1000,996,995,1002,999,792,1003,998,997],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114066,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102303\/revisions\/114066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102303"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=102303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS): Many Benefits to the Developing World<\/h2>\n
Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS) reduces prevalent waterborne diseases<\/h2>\n
Five Methods to Implement Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS)<\/h2>\n
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\n Method<\/strong><\/th>\n Case Study<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n Chlorination<\/strong> use (i.e. adding chlorine to water) disinfects public water supplies. Also, it helps eliminate waterborne disease, reduces viruses and bacteria, and is relatively inexpensive.<\/span>4<\/span><\/td>\n For example, a nongovernmental organization improved water quality in rural Haitian communities. In summary, small-scale chlorination was introduced despite natural disasters and political unrest.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Filtration<\/strong> is the inexpensive process of removing harmful chemicals and pollutants from water.\u00a0However, more studies are needed.4<\/span><\/td>\n According to a study in Bolivia, users of micron ceramic candle-shaped filters experienced a 64% reduction in diarrhea.4<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Solar disinfection (SODIS)<\/strong> allows people to treat and drink water from small, narrow-necked bottles.2<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n For example, in Sikkim, India, 65 children under five took part in a SODIS intervention trial. After 8 weeks, SODIS users saw a reduction in diarrhea of about 76%.11<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Filtration and chlorination<\/strong> is a combined approach that reduces bacteria.2<\/span><\/td>\n For example, local Haitians communally accepted a purifier. In fact, a study conducted on the purifier outlined a 56% reduction in diarrheal disease.2<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Flocculation and Chlorination<\/strong> combines a coagulation step for particle removal (flocculation) with a chlorination step(s) for disinfection. For this reason, it offers high removal rates of bacteria in contaminated water.2<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n According to a study on point-of-use water treatment in West Kenya, this method is best for 4 reasons: (1) works well in contaminated waters, (2) requires little infrastructure,(3) serves rural zones, and (4) encourages vulnerable communities to make water safe.12<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n What you can do to help<\/h2>\n
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References<\/h2>\n
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\nhttps:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jid\/article\/218\/suppl_3\/S147\/5095273<\/li>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1438463916300256<\/li>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2946676\/<\/li>\n