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| R Number: R6869 |
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| Contractor; British Geological Survey | Dates: 1 October 1997 to 30 September 2000 |
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Prepare a manual and guidelines to help ensure water quality in drinking water supply wells is acceptable by improving their design and siting in relation to on-site sanitation |
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| Executive Summary |
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The provision of safe drinking water supplies and sanitation are accepted as key elements for the improvement of health in many developing countries. As resources are rarely adequate enough to provide water supplies and sewerage systems universally, the most cost-effective solution is often to construct low-yielding boreholes and on-site sanitation. However, there are serious concerns that on-site sanitation may cause the contamination of adjacent groundwater sources. This is likely to be a particular problem in areas that are densely populated and/or underlain by fractured aquifers. Whilst the principal concern is of bacteriological contamination there is also increasing evidence of chemical contamination (mostly nitrate) of groundwater beneath unsewered cities. It was with this general problem in mind, that the British Geological Survey, along with the Robens Centre for Public and Environmental Health, proposed this project which aims to prepare guidelines for the siting of on-site sanitation in relation to water supply wells. These will be used by fieldworkers involved with implementing water supply and sanitation programmes. The project includes a series of case studies the results of which will be incorporated into a review, co-authored by a network of researchers from Africa, Asia and Latin America. This review will build on the report produced by Lewis et al (1982). In addition to a comprehensive review of the literature published since 1982, the update will include further analysis of the controls on the risk of pollution from on-site sanitation in particular hydrogeology, water supply and sanitation design and the persistence and mobility of the pollutants. This analysis will rely heavily on the results from the case studies. Appropriate remedial and preventative measures will be discussed. The review will be the base from which the manual is developed. A draft review will be circulated to the co-authors prior to a project workshop which will be held in the UK in June 2000. The contents of review and the outline of the manual of guidelines will be discussed at the workshop. The deadline for producing the manual is August 2000. Work is presently underway on the project case studies. There are no results to report on and no publications from the project at this stage. |
| Further Information |
| Contact Details for Further Information |
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David Macdonald British Geological Survey Maclean Building Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8BB UK
Fax: +44 1491 692345
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