Adopting a Preparatory Strategy to Respond to Water Security Issues Arising from Geo-Hazards

Abstract

<jats:p>‘Geo-hazards’ is a collective term to describe hazards causing huge problems with human settlements, where the hazards are many and varied, including earthquakes, floods, windstorms, and drought, all of which are intensifying over time in large part due to climate change and population growth. In particular, issues of availability of ‘safe’ water are major disruptive elements frequently causing widespread incidence of diarrheal diseases both during and post, geo-hazard events. In response, arguments are described which demonstrate ceramic water filters (CWFs) have credible potential to effectively remove E.-coli (and, by similar attribute characterization), are effective in the removal of cholera. Field experience in terms of removal have been demonstrated as 94.7% removal of E-coli and all users in some applications have expressed interest in continuing use of ceramic filters beyond the trial period. Arguments are put forth, for CWFs as a Point-of-Use (POU) technology by which they can be stored and rapidly disseminated given occurrence of geo-hazards, thereby providing the opportunity to respond quickly. CWFs can be effectively stored without deterioration, are inexpensive, and easy to train recipients for their post-geo-hazard occurrence.</jats:p>