The perception of water related risks and the state of the water environment in the European Union

Determinants of household safe drinking water practices in Kabul, Afghanistan: New insights from behavioural survey data

More than 2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Household water treatment (HWT) is an interim option for reducing the risk of water born disease. Understanding the factors that influence HWT behaviour is crucial for delivering successful interventions aimed at scaling relevant technologies, but the literature tends to emphasise psychological determinants with little consideration of socioeconomic and contextual factors. This article responds to this literature by using the COM-B model to examine the determinants of HWT practices through a comprehensive and context-sensitive behaviour definition. We informed this model through a cross-sectional survey design in which we collected data from 913 households in two peri‑urban neighbourhoods of Kabul, Afghanistan. Our findings from descriptive statistical and regression analysis highlight the importance of not only psychological but also socio-economic and contextual determinants of HWT behaviour: Especially the COM-B dimensions of reflective and automatic motivation, and physical opportunity - which are heavily influenced by local context and economic circumstances - had statistically significant associations with performing HWT. The practical significance of these dimensions was similarly pronounced. For example, an increase in the physical opportunity index by 0.1 units from an average value of 0.7 to 0.8 would be associated with a 7.7 percentage-point higher likelihood of HWT performance. These results suggest that the COM-B model can be utilised to systematically design interventions aimed at promoting HWT practices, while highlighting the need to broaden behavioural analyses of HWT and consider contextual factors to develop interventions that are tailored to the specific needs and obstacles of different communities.

An integrated approach using multi-source data for effective pollution risk monitoring of urban rivers: a case study of Hangzhou

With the rapid urbanization of cities, water pollution has emerged as a major challenge to their sustainable development. To tackle this problem, we developed a river pollution risk management system that integrates multi-source data and includes risk identification, early warning, and control. We applied this system to a case study of urban rivers in Hangzhou, China. The results indicated that the measured and effect values of urban river water quality in Hangzhou were 1.01 and 1.14, respectively, indicating mild pollution levels. NH₃-N is the main risk factor, with poor supervision and land use being the main risk sources. River pollution risk in different drainage zones demonstrated stratification. Since 2012, the measured risk of water quality in Hangzhou has been decreasing, mainly concentrated in the built-up area; however, the effect risk has been increasing, especially in the new center and sub-center of the city. Based on these findings, three strategies for urban river pollution control are suggested: water ecology source rehabilitation, water environment process supervision, and water pollution end management. The results of this study extend the understanding of urban water environment risk and provide implications for sustainable urban planning.

Using a Novel Algorithm Based on the Random Vector Functional Link Network and Multi-Verse Optimizer to Forecast Effluent Quality

The treatment of wastewater is a complicated biological reaction process. Reliable effluent prediction is critical in the scientific management of water treatment plants. This research proposes a soft sensor design strategy to address the issues above, Multi-Verse Optimizer (MVO)-based random vector functional link network (MVO-RVFL). The proposed approach is utilized to anticipate real-time effluent data obtained from the Benchmark Simulation Model 1 (BSM1). The results of the experiments demonstrate that the MVO methodology can successfully find the optimum input-hidden weights and hidden biases of the RVFL model while outperforming the original RVFL and other typical machine learning approaches in all types of influent datasets. In the situation of significant water quality variations, the use of the fusion process for model development was also investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that incorporating prior knowledge can effectively improve the model’s ability to cope with unexpected situations.

Multi-criteria decision making and fairness evaluation of water ecological carrying capacity for inter-regional green development

Determining water ecological carrying capacity (WECC) is of great significance to ensure inter-regional green development. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation framework for WECC assessment in the Yangtze River Economic Zone (YREZ), China. Effects of water resources, socio-economic, and ecological elements on WECC can be evaluated based on multi-criteria decision analysis. Gini and unbalance coefficients are used for measuring the regional fairness between WECC and socio-economic development. Surface water production pressure (SWPP) and groundwater pollution risk (GPR) are further regarded as indicators for expressing water resources constraint on shale gas extraction in the YREZ. Results disclose that the average WECC level decreases from 0.439 in 2000 to 0.4007 in 2016, which is the opposite of the changing trend in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. A high WECC level appears in Zhejiang (0.5126) with a good state, but that of Guizhou (0.3983), Anhui (0.3968), Hunan (0.3914), and Chongqing (0.3651) are at the alert state. The obstacle factors of WECC in the eastern YREZ mostly originate from socio-economic and water resource subsystems, while that in the middle and western YREZ mainly arise from water resources and ecological subsystems. Fairness analysis shows a well-matching characteristic between the overall WECC and socio-economic performances due to a majority of their Gini coefficients lower than 0.4, while a poor matching characteristic exists in terms of provincial differences owing to their varied unbalance coefficients, especially in Guizhou, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. Moreover, Chongqing with most of shale gas reserves is characterized by slight SWPP (1.0202) and GPR (0.0188), but the prospect of shale gas development in Sichuan is not optimistic due to its high SWPP (1.0846) and GPR (0.0647). Recycling of flowback and product waters can significantly lighten regional water resources pressure. This presented framework can be applied into many other Chinese cities (e.g., Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region) with slight modifications according to their actual situations for supporting water resource managers and government with decision making.

Diatoms recovery from wastewater: Overview from an ecological and economic perspective

Alarming water pollution is toxic to the aquatic ecosystem leading to a sharp decline in species diversity. Diatoms have great potency to survive in contaminated water bodies, hence they can be compelling bioindicators to monitor the change in the environmental matrices effectively. Around the globe, researchers are intended to evaluate the impact of pollution on the diatoms recovery and techniques used for the assessment. The diatoms are precious for futuristic need viz. value-added products, energy generation, pharmaceuticals, and aquaculture feedstocks. All these applications led to a significant rise in diatoms research among the scientific community. This review presents different isolation practices, cultivation, and other challenges associated with the diatoms. A precise focus is given to diatoms isolation techniques from highly polluted water bodies with the main thrust towards obtaining an axenic culture to elucidate the significance of pure diatom cultures. Recovery of "jewels of the sea" from polluted water signifies the prospective ecological and economic aspects.

Drinking Water Consumption Patterns: An Exploration of Risk Perception and Governance in Two First Nations Communities

Many Indigenous communities across Canada suffer from the lack of access to clean drinking water; ensuring individuals and communities have safe water to drink either from their home or from their local environment requires the consideration of multiple factors including individual risk perception. In collaboration with local leaders, semi-structured interviews (n = 99) were conducted over a two-year period in the Dene Tha’ First Nation and Kátł’odeeche First Nation to unpack the issue of risk perception and its meaning to local community members. These local metrics of risk perception including smell, taste, safety, health fears and level of concern were then used to explore patterns in other data on drinking water consumption patterns and bottled water use. The results are consistent with previous research related to water insecurity and indicate that both communities consume more bottled water than the average Canadian. Results also varied by jurisdiction; those in Alberta indicated much higher levels of concern and a greater degree of bottled water consumption.