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Johnson KM, Kumar MR, Ponmurugan P, 2010. Degradation of the quality of water during monsoon and the related outbreak of water borne diseases. Ecol Environ Conserv 16: 277–280.
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Assessing the Microbial Quality of Improved Drinking Water Sources: Results from the Dominican Republic
Rachel Baum
Rachel Baum
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Water Institute, and Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Georgia Kayser
Georgia Kayser
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Water Institute, and Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Christine Stauber
Christine Stauber
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Water Institute, and Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Mark Sobsey
Mark Sobsey
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Water Institute, and Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Millennium Development Goal Target 7c (to halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of the global population without sustainable access to safe drinking water), was celebrated as achieved in 2012. However, new studies show that we may be prematurely celebrating. Access to safe drinking water may be overestimated if microbial water quality is considered. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between microbial drinking water quality and drinking water source in the Puerto Plata region of the Dominican Republic. This study analyzed microbial drinking water quality data from 409 households in 33 communities. Results showed that 47% of improved drinking water sources were of high to very-high risk water quality, and therefore unsafe for drinking. This study provides evidence that the current estimate of safe water access may be overly optimistic, and microbial water quality data are needed to reliably assess the safety of drinking water.
Author Notes
Financial support: This study was supported by a grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by ProCleanse, LLC (Buffalo Grove, IL).
Disclosure: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Authors' addresses: Rachel Baum and Georgia Kayser, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Water Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, E-mails: rbaum@email.unc.edu and gkayser@unc.edu. Christine Stauber, Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, E-mail: cstauber@gsu.edu. Mark Sobsey, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, E-mail: sobsey@unc.edu.
ProCite
RefWorks
Reference Manager
BibTeX
Zotero
EndNote
-
1.
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, 2012. Country Reports. Geneva: World Health Organization.
-
2.
United Nations, 2012. Indicators for Monitoring the Millenium Development Goals: Definitions, rationale, concepts and sources. Available at: http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mi/wiki/7-8-Proportion-of-population-using-an-improved-drinking-water-source.ashx.
-
3.
UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, 2012. Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-water: 2012 Update. Geneva: World Health Organization.
-
4.
Onda K, LoBuglio J, Bartram J, 2012. Global access to safe water: accounting for water quality and the resulting impact on MDG progress. Int J Environ Res Public Health 9: 880–894.
-
5.
OECD/WHO, 2003. Assessing Microbial Safety of Drinking Water: Improving Approaches and Methods. Geneva: World Health Organization.
-
6.
WHO, 2012. Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, Fourth edition. Geneva: World Health Organization.
-
7.
Brown J, Hien VT, McMahan L, Jenkins MW, Thie L, Liang K, Printy E, Sobsey MD, 2013. Relative benefits on on-plot water supply over other ‘improved’ sources in rural Vietnam. Trop Med Int Health 18: 65–74.
-
8.
Johnson KM, Kumar MR, Ponmurugan P, 2010. Degradation of the quality of water during monsoon and the related outbreak of water borne diseases. Ecol Environ Conserv 16: 277–280.
| Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 491 | 368 | 24 |
| Full Text Views | 617 | 12 | 0 |
| PDF Downloads | 212 | 14 | 0 |