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An assessment of the replicability of a standard and modified sanitary risk protocol for groundwater sources in Greater Accra

An assessment of the replicability of a standard and modified sanitary risk protocol for groundwater sources in Greater Accra
An assessment of the replicability of a standard and modified sanitary risk protocol for groundwater sources in Greater Accra
Sanitary risk inspection, the systematic observation of contamination hazards, is often used to manage safety of water sources such as wells and boreholes. However, the replicability of sanitary risk inspections undertaken by different observers has not been studied. This study aimed to assess the replicability of sanitary risk inspections by two different observers in urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods of Greater Accra, Ghana. Two observers independently used a standard protocol to record contamination hazards around 62 groundwater sources, additionally recording urban-specific hazards such as damaged sewage pipes via a modified protocol. We calculated risk scores as the proportion of hazards observed at each source, separately for each observer. Linn’s concordance correlation coefficient indicated very high agreement between the two observers’ risk scores (n=62; c=0.949, 95% confidence limits 0.917-0.968). However, risk scores from urban-specific observations were uncorrelated with those from the standard protocol (r=0.11, p=0.41 for Observer 1; r=0.16, p=0.22 for observer 2). Ours is the first study of replicability of sanitary risk observations and suggests high inter-observer agreement. However, urban contamination hazards were not captured using the standard protocol. In future, assessment of inter-observer agreement and observations of urban-specific hazards could be incorporated into nationwide or regional sanitary risk surveys.
0167-6369
Yentumi, Winifred
a82d7daa-3bb2-444f-a04a-70dd57c3a4f9
Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli
b3bafe27-4542-4ece-a82a-4717a72df187
Seshie-Doe, Kafui
186f6271-0597-4e39-a7b4-808475f1e238
Wright, James
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464
Yentumi, Winifred
a82d7daa-3bb2-444f-a04a-70dd57c3a4f9
Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli
b3bafe27-4542-4ece-a82a-4717a72df187
Seshie-Doe, Kafui
186f6271-0597-4e39-a7b4-808475f1e238
Wright, James
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464

Yentumi, Winifred, Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli, Seshie-Doe, Kafui and Wright, James (2019) An assessment of the replicability of a standard and modified sanitary risk protocol for groundwater sources in Greater Accra. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 191 (59). (doi:10.1007/s10661-018-7174-5).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Sanitary risk inspection, the systematic observation of contamination hazards, is often used to manage safety of water sources such as wells and boreholes. However, the replicability of sanitary risk inspections undertaken by different observers has not been studied. This study aimed to assess the replicability of sanitary risk inspections by two different observers in urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods of Greater Accra, Ghana. Two observers independently used a standard protocol to record contamination hazards around 62 groundwater sources, additionally recording urban-specific hazards such as damaged sewage pipes via a modified protocol. We calculated risk scores as the proportion of hazards observed at each source, separately for each observer. Linn’s concordance correlation coefficient indicated very high agreement between the two observers’ risk scores (n=62; c=0.949, 95% confidence limits 0.917-0.968). However, risk scores from urban-specific observations were uncorrelated with those from the standard protocol (r=0.11, p=0.41 for Observer 1; r=0.16, p=0.22 for observer 2). Ours is the first study of replicability of sanitary risk observations and suggests high inter-observer agreement. However, urban contamination hazards were not captured using the standard protocol. In future, assessment of inter-observer agreement and observations of urban-specific hazards could be incorporated into nationwide or regional sanitary risk surveys.

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Accepted/In Press date: 18 December 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 January 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 427453
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/427453
ISSN: 0167-6369
PURE UUID: 706a7889-e713-4906-a5d9-10b3876a51a6
ORCID for James Wright: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8842-2181

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Date deposited: 16 Jan 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:41

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Contributors

Author: Winifred Yentumi
Author: Mawuli Dzodzomenyo
Author: Kafui Seshie-Doe
Author: James Wright ORCID iD

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