A Call to Broaden Investment in Drinking Water Testing and Community Outreach Programs

Abstract

Ensuring access to safe drinking water is a challenge in many parts of the world for reasons including, but not limited to, infrastructure age, source water impairment, limited community finances and limitations in Federal water protections. Water quality crises and the prevalence of impaired waters globally highlight the need for investment in the expansion of drinking water testing that includes public and private water systems, as well as community outreach. We provide justification including a case example to argue the merits of developing drinking water testing and community outreach programs that include drinking water testing and non-formal education (i.e., public outreach) regarding the importance of drinking water quality testing for human well-being and security. Organizers of drinking water testing programs should: (1) test drinking water quality; (2) develop drinking water quality databases; (3) increase public awareness of drinking water issues; (4) build platforms for improved community outreach; and (5) publish program results that illustrate successful program models that are spatially and temporally transferrable. We anticipate that short-term and intermediate outcomes of this strategy would improve access to drinking water testing, facilitate greater understanding of water quality and increase security through inclusive and equitable water quality testing and outreach programs.

Integrated Water Management in Mountain Communities: The Case of Feutap in the Municipality of Bangangté, Cameroon

“…There is currently a call for investments in drinking water testing as a means to increase awareness of water quality and its link to public health [22,23,160,161]. This paper has presented a very feasible way to achieve water availability in Feutap [159].…”

“…In other words, from a pure health perspective, the new installations cannot be counted as a success [19,20]. For the last few decades, public health workers have been often disappointed by costly water supply installations without any material improvement of the disease picture in communities [3,[21][22][23]. In a few extreme cases, like in South East Asia (e.g., Bangladesh, India, Nepal), new installations have even worsened the health situation by creating the arsenic crisis [21].…”

The complex nature of household water supply: an evidence-based assessment of urban water access in Southwest Nigeria

“…The nature of residential water supply in developing countries shows a clear departure from what is obtainable in the developed world, where a majority of households are typically connected to public water sources and are assured of a continuous supply of potable water. The disparity in the percentage of coverage between municipal supply (5%) and non-municipal water supply (95%) in the study area is not comparable to any city in Europe, the USA (∼13% uses private water system), or the rest of the developed world (Hubbart & Gootman 2021). Many large cities in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America (classified as the developing world) that are not connected to the piped water system have to rely on public wells or taps (Briand et al 2009).…”

Kanchan Arsenic Filters for Household Water Treatment: Unsuitable or Unsustainable?

“…Accordingly, a prerequisite would be to install equipped (and accredited) analytical laboratories and make them accessible in areas of concern. There are even increasing calls for the equipping of analytical water laboratories everywhere, including in low-income countries [42,47,[88][89][90][91][92]. Based on analytical results, there are three options: (i) continue using the filter as far as the filtered water quality remains good; (ii) abandon it when its performance drops because of lack of maintenance, and (iii) clean it immediately when the analytical results suggest so.…”