Drinking Water in Developing Countries

Gadgil, Ashok

doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.23.1.253

Cited by 285 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…1 However, safe drinking water remains inaccessible for about 1.1 billion people in the world and the hourly toll from biological contamination of drinking water is 400 deaths of children below the age five. 2 Water helps maintain the moisture of internal organs of the body; 3 maintains normal volume and consistency of fluids such as blood and lymph; 4 regulates body temperature; removes poisons or toxins from the body through urine, sweat and breathing; 5 and is essential for regulating the normal structure and functions of the skin. 6 The body loses about four liters of water every day.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escherichia coli as an indicator of bacteriological quality of water: an overview

Odonkor

Ampofo

2013

Microbiol Res (Pavia)

325

192

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Monitoring the microbiological quality of drinking water relies largely on examination of indicator bacteria such as coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. E. coli is a member of the faecal coliform group and is a more specific indicator of faecal pollution than other faecal coliforms. Two key factors have led to the trend toward the use of E. coli as the preferred indicator for the detection of faecal contamination, not only in drinking water, but also in other matrices as well: first, the finding that some faecal coliforms were non faecal in origin, and second, the development of improved testing methods for E. coli. The faecal coliform definition has also been revised to coincide better with the genetic make-up of its members and now includes newly identified environmental species. As a result, faecal coliforms are increasingly being referred to as thermotolerant coliforms. This, combined with improved detection methods for E. coli, has started a trend toward the use of E. coli in place of thermotolerant coliforms as a more reliable indicator of faecal pollution in drinking water. At present, E. coli appears to provide the best bacterial indication of faecal contamination in drinking water. This is based on the prevalence of thermotolerant (faecal) coliforms in temperate environments as compared to the rare incidence of E. coli, the prevalence of E. coli in human and animal faeces as compared to other thermotolerant coliforms, and the availability of affordable, fast, sensitive, specific and easier to perform detection methods for E. coli.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escherichia coli as an indicator of bacteriological quality of water: an overview

Odonkor

Ampofo

2013

Microbiol Res (Pavia)

325

192

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“…More generally, there is a paucity of critical social science attention on the connections between the politics of water access and health in the South. Although a large international water health literature addresses water quality and disease in the South (Fewtrell, Fuge, & Kay, 2005;Gadgil, 1998;Prüss, Kay, Fewtrell, & Bartram, 2002), few critical studies delve into the history, discursive constructions, and micropolitics underpinning urban water/sanitation access and human and environmental health. In brief, there is an important gap to be filled in the political ecology of urban health.…”

Section: Defining the Urban Fringe Across The North And Southmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water marginalization at the urban fringe: environmental justice and urban political ecology across the North–South divide

2015

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This article reconsiders the epistemic and geographic boundaries that have long separated scholarship on urban water poverty and politics in the Global North and South. We stage an encounter between the seemingly dissimilar cases of Tooleville outside of the city of Exeter in California's Central Valley and Bommanahalli outside of Bangalore, India, to illuminate the geography of water marginalization at the fringes of urban areas, and to deepen cross-fertilization between two geographic literatures: environmental justice (EJ) and urban political ecology (UPE). We argue that there is scope for transnational learning in three arenas in particular: (1) water access, (2) state practice, and (3) political agency. In so doing, we aim to advance a genuinely postcolonial approach to theory and practice in the pressing arena of urban water politics.

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“…About 3.5 million children under fi ve die from drinking unsafe water every year (Gadgil 1998). This situation is entirely caused by human activity in the forms of pollution and faulty infrastructure.…”

Section: Basic Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%