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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ryan Gene Gaia Sinclair, MPH and Andrew Englande, PhD PE. Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University SPH&TM, Suite 2131, 1440 Canal St., New Orleans, LA 70112, 504.988.2765, aenglan@tulane.edu

In many areas of the world, simple Household Water Treatment (HWT) technologies are recognized as efficient methods to achieve a high quality drinking water and reduce the community burden of enteric disease. To address these HWTs, the 3rd edition of the WHO guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality suggests microbial-based disease prevention concept to be included in the formal quantitative risk assessment framework. This microbial risk assessment framework has been explained in a process to verify that HWT can reduce pathogen targets, achieve health based targets, and be logistically feasible with a community's source water.

The Solar Disinfection (SODIS) treatment technology is evaluated through this framework, where a group of three evidence-based components are summarized. This study combines epidemiological diarrhea disease data, community raw water source data, and a field-laboratory's microbiological evaluation of the technology in an attempt to promote SODIS as a suitable water treatment system for the country of Cambodia. Results are promising when considering the bacteria inactivation potential demonstrated, the epidemiological study results, and the source water characterization; however, literature is presented showing that the SODIS technology is limited when disinfecting protozoan or viruses as these often have a low infective dose. More microbiological studies and evidence are needed to validate SODIS as a household water treatment system through a rigorous risk assessment framework before the technology can be justified by country level policy makers as a method to provide drinking water considered “safe” rather than “improved”.

Learning Objectives:

• Use Solar Disinfection as an alternative for household water treatment and understand why it is promoted.
• Describe the steps needed to test and verify any given water treatment technology before it is promoted in public health interventions.
• List at least two components of a microbial risk assessment and recognize how they can be used as a framework for verification of a technology.

Keywords: Risk Assessment, Drinking Water Quality

Related Web page: www.adracambodia.org/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered