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Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria

Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria
Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria
Reducing inequalities is a priority from a human rights perspective and in water and public health initiatives. There are periodic calls for differential national and global standards for rural and urban areas, often justified by the suggestion that, for a given water source type, safety is worse in urban areas. For instance, initially proposed post-2015 water targets included classifying urban but not rural protected dug wells as unimproved.
The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the influence of urban extent definition on water safety in Nigeria, (ii) compare the frequency of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) contamination and prevalence of sanitary risks between rural and urban water sources of a given type and (iii) investigate differences in exposure to contaminated drinking-water in rural and urban areas.Weuse spatially referenced data froma Nigerian national randomized sample survey of five improvedwater source types to assess the extent of any disparities in urban–rural safety. We combined the survey data on TTC and sanitary risk with map layers depicting urban versus rural areas according to eight urban definitions. When examining water safety separately for each improved source type, we found no significant urban–rural differences in TTC contamination and sanitary risk for groundwater sources (boreholes and protected dug wells) and inconclusive findings for piped water and stored water. However, when improved and unimproved source types were combined, TTC contamination was 1.6 to 2.3 times more likely in rural compared to urban water sources depending on the urban definition. Our results suggest that different targets for urban and rural water safety are not justified and that rural dwellers are more exposed to unsafe water than urban dwellers. Additionally, urban–rural analyses should assess multiple definitions or indicators of urban to assess robustness of findings and to characterize a gradient that disaggregates the urban–rural dichotomy.
0048-9697
301-312
Christenson, E.
68cb3b18-d8ec-43c6-83c1-0a4861671e6b
Bain, R.
ad9d875b-1b72-4018-a0b4-e1d872e6d039
Wright, J.A.
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464
Aondoakaa, S.
27b28b00-f489-4fbd-86d0-3f97788dcab7
Hossain, R.
a802ad70-a859-4cea-9119-71fe9b4e0dae
Bartram, J.
89ea4745-2e0b-41c7-bcb7-909ff36fa902
Christenson, E.
68cb3b18-d8ec-43c6-83c1-0a4861671e6b
Bain, R.
ad9d875b-1b72-4018-a0b4-e1d872e6d039
Wright, J.A.
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464
Aondoakaa, S.
27b28b00-f489-4fbd-86d0-3f97788dcab7
Hossain, R.
a802ad70-a859-4cea-9119-71fe9b4e0dae
Bartram, J.
89ea4745-2e0b-41c7-bcb7-909ff36fa902

Christenson, E., Bain, R., Wright, J.A., Aondoakaa, S., Hossain, R. and Bartram, J. (2014) Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria. Science of the Total Environment, 490, 301-312. (doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.010).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Reducing inequalities is a priority from a human rights perspective and in water and public health initiatives. There are periodic calls for differential national and global standards for rural and urban areas, often justified by the suggestion that, for a given water source type, safety is worse in urban areas. For instance, initially proposed post-2015 water targets included classifying urban but not rural protected dug wells as unimproved.
The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the influence of urban extent definition on water safety in Nigeria, (ii) compare the frequency of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) contamination and prevalence of sanitary risks between rural and urban water sources of a given type and (iii) investigate differences in exposure to contaminated drinking-water in rural and urban areas.Weuse spatially referenced data froma Nigerian national randomized sample survey of five improvedwater source types to assess the extent of any disparities in urban–rural safety. We combined the survey data on TTC and sanitary risk with map layers depicting urban versus rural areas according to eight urban definitions. When examining water safety separately for each improved source type, we found no significant urban–rural differences in TTC contamination and sanitary risk for groundwater sources (boreholes and protected dug wells) and inconclusive findings for piped water and stored water. However, when improved and unimproved source types were combined, TTC contamination was 1.6 to 2.3 times more likely in rural compared to urban water sources depending on the urban definition. Our results suggest that different targets for urban and rural water safety are not justified and that rural dwellers are more exposed to unsafe water than urban dwellers. Additionally, urban–rural analyses should assess multiple definitions or indicators of urban to assess robustness of findings and to characterize a gradient that disaggregates the urban–rural dichotomy.

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More information

Published date: 15 August 2014
Organisations: Population, Health & Wellbeing (PHeW)

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 366617
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/366617
ISSN: 0048-9697
PURE UUID: ebfaf93e-a106-4b3d-a451-e8aa2ab4dfba
ORCID for J.A. Wright: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8842-2181

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Date deposited: 03 Jul 2014 14:36
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:21

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Contributors

Author: E. Christenson
Author: R. Bain
Author: J.A. Wright ORCID iD
Author: S. Aondoakaa
Author: R. Hossain
Author: J. Bartram

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