Water quality in rural Greenland - acceptability and safety

Judith Y.A. Maréchal , Lisbeth Truelstrup Hansen , Pernille Erland Jensen
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The low proportion of households with piped drinking water in Greenlandic settlements – and elsewhere in the Arctic, leads to improvised methods of household water storage and water saving practices that could present a risk for public health.

This interview-based study investigated the perceptions of safety and acceptability of the water supply in rural Greenlandic households. The bacterial quality of the water distributed by the public supply before and after storage in the homes, of alternative water sourced from nature by the users themselves, and of shared handwash basins used in un-piped homes, was analyzed.

The treated water distributed by the rural Greenlandic water supply was acceptable to most users, although half of them expressed concerns about its quality, and distrusted the state of the infrastructure delivering piped water. For drinking, most respondents preferred untreated water from nature, but a majority used mainly piped water for practical reasons of access. The microbial quality of the public water supply met legislative requirements in most cases, but was found to deteriorate during both distribution to some taps, and storage in the homes, which constitutes a challenge to the reliable provision of safe water to users. Water from alternative sources showed slightly higher heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) than piped water, but no Escherichia coli. As for washbasins, they were found to have high levels of contamination in all three bacterial parameters investigated (HPC, coliforms and E. coli), indicating a possible transmission route for pathogens.

In conclusion, while the quality of treated water was overall good at distribution, the water saving and storage practices developed to compensate for the lack of piping may threaten public health. Alternative water sources are culturally important and trusted by users, although the possible impact of changes in climate and land use on the reliability of their quality is unknown.

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格陵兰农村的水质——可接受性和安全性
在格陵兰定居点和北极其他地方,有管道饮用水的家庭比例很低,导致家庭用水储存和节水做法的临时方法可能对公众健康构成威胁。这项基于访谈的研究调查了格陵兰农村家庭对供水的安全性和可接受性的看法。分析了公共供水分配的水在家庭储存前后的细菌质量,用户自己从自然中获取的替代水,以及在没有管道的家庭中使用的共用洗手盆。格陵兰农村供水分配的处理过的水对大多数用户来说是可以接受的,尽管其中一半人对水的质量表示关切,并且不信任输送管道水的基础设施的状况。在饮用水方面,大多数受访者更喜欢未经处理的自然水,但出于获取的实际原因,大多数人主要使用管道水。公共供水的微生物质量在大多数情况下符合立法要求,但发现在分配到一些水龙头和在家庭储存期间恶化,这对向用户可靠地提供安全用水构成挑战。从其他来源的水显示稍高的异养板计数(HPC)比自来水,但没有大肠杆菌。至于洗手盆,它们被发现在调查的所有三种细菌参数(HPC、大肠菌群和大肠杆菌)中都有高度污染,表明病原体可能存在传播途径。最后,虽然处理过的水在分配方面总体质量良好,但为弥补管道不足而开发的节水和储存做法可能威胁到公众健康。替代水源在文化上是重要的,并受到用户的信任,尽管气候和土地利用变化对其质量可靠性的可能影响尚不清楚。
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来源期刊
Hygiene and environmental health advances
Hygiene and environmental health advances Environmental Science (General)
CiteScore
1.10
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
审稿时长
38 days
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