Vulnerabilities of water and sanitation at households and community levels in face of climate variability and change: trends from historical climate time series in a West African medium-sized town

Abstract

In Kaédi, a secondary city of Mauritania with approximately 71,000 inhabitants, the analyses of historical climate time series data (1919-2010) and some projections showed a likely occurrence of more frequent heavy rains and higher risks of flooding events in the future. Vulnerability assessments, facilitated through transversal household surveys toward the end of the rainy season that covered the entire city and followed a stratified sampling approach, showed that the community's water supply comprises more than 100 wells, 33% of households report using water from wells for drinking purposes, 12% of households have their own wells in the yard, and 69% of households have latrines in the yard. The analysis also revealed considerable spatial heterogeneity of vulnerability. Considering the risks of cross-contamination of wells water by onsite sanitation facilities during flood events, communities and local governance actors should find appropriate adaptation to climate change strategies for water and health sectors starting with thematic vulnerability maps.

Food-borne and water-borne diseases under climate change in low- and middle-income countries: Further efforts needed for reducing environmental health exposure risks

“…A map of traditional water wells and their vulnerability to flooding events by zone in Kaédi, Mauritania: Zone 1 (most vulnerable to floods), zone 2 (least vulnerable) and zone 3 (medium vulnerability). Source: Cissé et al (2016). Table 2 Integrated educational, nutritional, and environmental interventions to reduce intestinal parasitic infections among school-aged children.…”

“…For the Kaédi case (Cissé et al, 2016), the city is located in the southern part of Mauritania at the border with Senegal, marked by the Senegal River, at about 430 km south of Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania. The city has no sewerage system, and families are mainly using on-site sanitation facilities.…”

“…Temperature and precipitation, in particular, play a major role in the transmission of diseases (Confalonieri et al, 2015;Dennis and Fisher, 2018). Precipitation can influence the transport and dissemination of infectious agents, particularly through water and sanitation systems (Cissé et al, 2016), while temperature can affect the growth and survival of pathogens and vectors (WHO, 2003).…”

Climate change vulnerability and resilience of water, sanitation, and hygiene services: a theoretical perspective

“…Some studies focus on technologies that are commonly used in a particular region and consider only climactic hazards that are geographically relevant to them. For instance, specific impacts of climate change on wells and latrines in Mauritania (Cissé et al 2016), spring-fed water systems in Bolivia (Fry et al 2012), groundwater supplies in southeast Asia (Hoque et al 2016), small scale sand dams in Ethiopia (Lasage et al 2015), various small scale water supplies in Bangladesh (Rajib et al 2012), mountain spring-fed water systems in India (Tambe et al 2012), and rural groundwater supplies in Africa (MacDonald et al 2009;Bonsor et al 2010) have been the subject of in-depth studies. These studies all make recommendations for promoting technologies, or modifications to existing technologies, that will resist disruption when exposed to particular climate change induced hazards.…”

Assessing the Skill and Reliability of Seasonal Climate Forecasts in Sahelian West Africa

“…The Sahel region of West Africa exhibits high yearto-year variability in seasonal precipitation amounts (Nicholson 2013). While many factors combine to determine the vulnerability of communities in the region (Tschakert 2007;Ado et al 2018;Eze 2018), in years with anomalously low or high precipitation there can be widespread negative impacts on the predominant livelihoods of pastoralism and rain-fed agriculture (Boyd et al 2013), alongside other negative impacts of water stress (Chinwendu et al 2017) or flooding (Cissé et al 2016). Weather and climate forecasts can therefore help countries and communities to prepare in advance, capitalizing on favorable conditions and reducing the impacts of extreme weather and climate events (Tall et al 2012;Braman et al 2013).…”