Groundwater and public health

1 Groundwater and public health Water-related disease remains one of the major health concerns in the World. Diarrhoeal diseases, which are largely derived from poor water and sanitation account for 2.4 million deaths each year and contribute over 73 million Disability Adjusted Life Years per annum (WHO, 1999). On a global scale, this places diarrhoeal disease sixth highest cause of mortality and third in the list of morbidity and it is estimated that 5.7 per cent of the global disease burden is derived from poor water, sanitation and hygiene (Prüss et al., 2002). This health burden is primarily borne by the populations in developing countries and by children. At 2002 estimates, one-sixth of humanity (1.1 billion people) lack access to any form of improved water supply within 1 kilometre of their home and one-fifth of humanity (2.6 billion people) lack access to some form of improved excreta disposal (WHO and UNICEF, 2004). These figures relate to the clear definitions provided in the updated Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment Report and are shown in Table 1.1 below. Table 1.1. Definition of improved and unimproved water supply and sanitation facilities (WHO and UNICEF, 2004). Water supply Sanitation Improved Unimproved Improved Unimproved Household connection Unprotected well Connection to a public sewer Public standpipe Unprotected spring Connection to a septic system Service or bucket latrines (where excreta removed manually) Boreholes Vendor-provided water Pour-flush latrine Public latrines Protected dug well Bottled water Simple pit latrine Latrines with an open pit Protected spring Tanker-truck provided water Ventilated improved pit latrine Rainwater collection If the quality of water or sanitation were taken into account, these numbers of people without access to water supplies and sanitation would increase even further. Endemic and epidemic disease derived from poor water supply affects all nations. Outbreaks of waterborne disease continue to occur in both developed and developing countries, leading to loss of life, avoidable disease and economic costs to individuals and communities. The improvement of water quality control strategies, in conjunction with improvements in excreta disposal and personal hygiene can be expected to deliver substantial health gains in the population. This book provides information on strategies for the protection of groundwater sources used for drinking water as a component of an integrated approach to drinking-water safety management (WHO, 2004; Davison et al., 2004). The importance of source protection as the first stage of managing water quality has been an important …