Infrastructure alone cannot ensure resilience to weather events in drinking water supplies

Charles, Katrina; Howard, Guy; Prats, Elena Villalobos; Gruber, Joshua S.; Alam, Sadekul; Alamgir, A. S. M.; Baidya, Manish; Flora, Meerjady Sabrina; Haque, Farhana; Hassan, S.M. Quamrul; Islam, Saiful; Lazaro, Alfred; Lwetoijera, Dickson W.; Mahmud, Shohel; Mahmud, Zahid Hayat; Matwewe, Fatuma; Pasa, Kamal; Rahman, Mahmudur; Reza, Ashek Ahammed Shahid; Selimuzzaman, M.; Sharif, Ahmed Raihan; Sharma, Subodh; Thomas, Jacqueline; Campbell-Llendrum, Diarmid

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151876

Cited by 21 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is supported by previous studies, which have observed increased diarrhea risk at heavy rainfall levels 37 . In previous diarrhea risk studies and recent water quality studies, temperature and precipitation have been examined at a variety of timescales (monthly, weekly, daily) 37,40,45,46 . We selected exposures at the weekly level for this analysis based on the assumption that E. coli survival would be highest at shorter time scales.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High temperatures may influence pathogen survival in the environment, but the direction of the effect is unclear: pathogens may die off at a faster rate under high temperature conditions, but growth could also accelerate if sufficient nutrients are present 43,44 . A few recent studies found that heavy rainfall was associated with increased Escherichia coli (fecal indicator bacteria) levels in drinking water sources 40,[45][46][47] and household stored water 45,46 in locations in Bangladesh 46,47 , Burkina Faso 40 , Nepal 46 , and Tanzania 45,46 . Higher temperatures increased E. coli levels in Bangladesh and Nepal, but decreased E. coli levels in Tanzania 46 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few recent studies found that heavy rainfall was associated with increased Escherichia coli (fecal indicator bacteria) levels in drinking water sources 40,[45][46][47] and household stored water 45,46 in locations in Bangladesh 46,47 , Burkina Faso 40 , Nepal 46 , and Tanzania 45,46 . Higher temperatures increased E. coli levels in Bangladesh and Nepal, but decreased E. coli levels in Tanzania 46 . This variation by location suggests that the effects of weather on water quality are highly context-specific and underscores the need for evidence from additional locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to physical and biological mechanisms, temperature and precipitation extremes could also lead to community or household-level behavioral changes that influence exposure to pathogens 46 . At the community level, agricultural activities such as application of animal feces as fertilizer may be correlated with temperature and precipitation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of high temperature and heavy precipitation on drinking water quality and child hand contamination levels in rural kenya

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Mureithi²,

Mboya³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Climate change may impact human health through the influence of weather on environmental transmission of diarrhea. Previous studies have found that high temperatures and heavy precipitation are associated with increased diarrhea prevalence, but the underlying causal mechanisms are not clear. We linked measurements of Escherichia coli in source water (n=1,673), stored drinking water (n=8,924), and hand rinses from children <2 years old (n=2,660) with publicly available gridded temperature and precipitation data (at ≤0.2 degree spatial resolution and daily temporal resolution) by the GPS coordinates and date of sample collection. Measurements were collected over a 3-year period across a 2500 km2 area in rural Kenya. In drinking water sources, high 7-day temperature was associated with a 0.16 increase in log10 E. coli levels (p<0.001), while heavy 7-day total precipitation was associated with a 0.29 increase in log10 E. coli levels (p<0.001). In household stored drinking water, heavy 7-day precipitation was associated with a 0.079 increase in log10 E. coli levels (p=0.042). On child hands, high 7-day temperature was associated with a 0.39 decrease in log10 E. coli levels (p<0.001). Our findings provide insight on how climate change could impact environmental transmission of bacterial pathogens in Kenya, and suggest water treatment could be a mitigation strategy.

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