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Maputo — More than 10,000 people living in the outlying neighbourhoods of the western Mozambican city of Tete are without clean drinking water, since there is a shortage of water sources in these p

Open defecation is practised by over 600 million people in India and there is a strong political drive to eliminate this through the provision of on-site sanitation in rural areas. However, there are concerns that the subsequent leaching of excreta from subsurface storage could be adversely impacting underlying groundwater resources upon which rural populations are almost completely dependent for domestic water supply. We investigated this link in four villages undergoing sanitary interventions in Bihar State, India.

The groundwater of Ambagarh Chouki, Rajnandgaon, India, shows elevated levels of As and F−, frequently above the WHO guidelines. In this work, the concentrations of As, F−, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, SO4 2−, HCO3 −, Fe, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the groundwater of Ambagarh Chouki are described. The sources of dissolved components in the groundwater are investigated using the cluster and factor analysis. Five factors have been identified and linked to processes responsible for the formation of groundwater chemistry.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Safe drinking water to villages, 21/12/2015. Ministry maintains data regarding coverage of habitations with drinking water supply in rural areas of the country in terms of habitations and not in terms of villages.As reported by States / UTs into the online Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) there are no habitations without drinking water facilities.

A dramatic disparity between the results of blinded versus open trial designs has raised questions about the effectiveness of water quality interventions and other environmental interventions to prevent diarrhea, a leading killer of young children in low-income countries.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Drinking water affected by pollutants, 14/12/2015. As reported by the State departments dealing with rural drinking water supply into the on-line Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry, there are 63490 rural habitations affected with either arsenic, fluoride, iron, salinity or nitrate in one or more drinking water sources as on 9/12/2015. The State-wise number of affected habitation with fluoride, arsenic, iron, salinity or nitrate is at Annexure-I.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Contaminated Drinking Water, 10/12/2015. The State departments dealing with rural drinking water supply have reported arsenic, fluoride, iron, salinity, nitrate and heavy/toxic elements in some parts of the country with concentrations above prescribed permissible limits in rural drinking water sources. The heavy/toxic elements being reported from the laboratories set up in the country include Manganese, Copper, Aluminum, Mercury, Uranium, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Selenium and Zinc.

Water quality issues are complex and dynamic in nature and need urgent attention and action. Improving efficiency of water use requires regulatory frameworks that better reflect how different water uses require different water qualities, such as water from industrial processes being reused in agriculture.

The World Health Organization estimates that > 140 million people worldwide are exposed to arsenic (As)–contaminated drinking water. As undergoes biologic methylation, which facilitates renal As elimination. In folate-deficient individuals, this process is augmented by folic acid (FA) supplementation, thereby lowering blood As (bAs). Creatinine concentrations in urine are a robust predictor of As methylation patterns.

Access to safe drinking water is essential for health. Monitoring access to drinking water focuses on water supply type at the source, but there is limited evidence on whether quality differences at the source persist in water stored in the household.

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