Sustainability and scale-up of household water treatment and safe storage practices: Enablers and barriers to effective implementation

Abstract

Household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) provides a solution, when employed correctly and consistently, for managing water safety at home. However, despite years of promotion by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and others, boiling is the only method to achieve scale. Many HWTS programs have reported strong initial uptake and use that then decreases over time. This study maps out enablers and barriers to sustaining and scaling up HWTS practices. Interviews were carried out with 79 practitioners who had experience with HWTS programs in over 25 countries. A total of 47 enablers and barriers important to sustaining and scaling up HWTS practices were identified. These were grouped into six domains: user guidance on HWTS products; resource availability; standards, certification and regulations; integration and collaboration; user preferences; and market strategies. Collectively, the six domains cover the major aspects of moving products from development to the consumers. It is important that each domain is considered in all programs that aim to sustain and scale-up HWTS practices. Our findings can assist governments, NGOs, and other organizations involved in HWTS to approach programs more effectively and efficiently.

Sustainability of community-led total sanitation outcomes: Evidence from Ethiopia and Ghana

“…Three of the four interventions incorporated training to build capacity within communities. Building local capacity and engaging local leaders has been reported as an enabling factor for other WaSH behaviors, such as sustainability of household-water treatment and storage (HWTS) practices (Ojomo et al, 2015). Trained local actors influencing the behavior of their peers fits with diffusion theory, in which, among other factors, peer-communication and opinion leaders influence the adoption of a new behavior (Rogers, 2003).…”

Making Fe0-Based Filters a Universal Solution for Safe Drinking Water Provision

“…However, advice and knowledge transfer can be acquired in collaboration with other groups, including scientific ones. Considering the significant advancements made in research on 'Fe 0 for environmental remediation and water treatment' over the past three decades [26][27][28][29][30]52,76,116,146,[222][223][224][225][226][227][228][229] as the cornerstone for a universal sustainable solution to a long-lasting crisis, the universal provision of safe drinking water is no longer an 'elusive goal' [7]; Fe 0 filtration provides a solution, specifically for the developing world [229,230].…”

“…Water pollution caused by chemical, microbial, and physical contamination is a worldwide health issue [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. While microbes cause acute diseases (e.g., cholera, diarrhea, typhoid fever), chemicals mainly cause chronic diseases including cancer [4,9,11,[14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Computational Modeling and Empirical Analysis of a Biomass-Powered Drinking Water Pasteurization Technology

“…For the 2.2 billion people worldwide who do not have access to an improved water source or reliable piped water scheme, household (point-of-use), point-of-collection scale treatment methods are needed [2]. However, despite decades of efforts to implement various forms of water treatment technologies in rural developing communities, the dominant accessible and trustworthy treatment method for 1.2 billion people is still boiling water in pots over open biomass cooking fires or other cooking stoves, a process that is both energy intensive and time consuming [3,4]. The objective of this research is to computationally and empirically evaluate the capacity, fuel usage, and fecal indicator reduction of a system designed to increase the efficiency of the traditional water treatment process while continuing to utilize locally-available and renewable biomass energy resources.…”