a Institute for Sustainable Futures , University of Technology Sydney , Ultimo , Australia.
Int J Environ Health Res. 2018 Dec;28(6):579-589. doi: 10.1080/09603123.2018.1491953. Epub 2018 Aug 6.
Households in low- and middle-income countries commonly make use of multiple water sources. However, it remains unclear to what extent their drinking water choices are optimal from a health perspective. This matched cohort study across 10 islands in Vanuatu examined communities with both a groundwater and rainwater source to determine whether their preferred drinking option was the safest in microbial terms. In communities that preferred to drink rainwater, 56.5% of rainwater sources had 'high-risk' or 'very high risk' Escherichia coli contamination (> 10 MPN/100 mL) compared with 26.1% of groundwater sources (p = 0.092). Moreover, a preference for drinking rainwater was significantly associated with rainwater sources having 'high-risk' or 'very high risk' levels of E. coli contamination (p = 0.045). Results show that communities do not necessarily choose the safest water source for drinking. Findings also highlight the need to bolster local capacity to manage water quality risks and for Sustainable Development Goal monitoring to distinguish between protected and unprotected rainwater tanks.
低收入和中等收入国家的家庭通常会利用多种水源。然而，从健康角度来看，他们的饮用水选择在多大程度上是最优的，这一点尚不清楚。这项在瓦努阿图的 10 个岛屿上进行的匹配队列研究调查了同时拥有地下水和雨水水源的社区，以确定他们首选的饮用水在微生物方面是否是最安全的。在更喜欢饮用雨水的社区中，有 56.5%的雨水水源受到大肠杆菌污染（> 10 MPN/100 mL），被认为具有“高风险”或“极高风险”，而地下水水源的这一比例为 26.1%（p = 0.092）。此外，更喜欢饮用雨水与雨水水源具有“高风险”或“极高风险”大肠杆菌污染水平显著相关（p = 0.045）。研究结果表明，社区并不一定会选择最安全的饮用水源。研究结果还强调，需要加强当地管理水质风险的能力，并需要进行可持续发展目标监测，以区分受保护和未受保护的雨水箱。
