Packaged water treatment schemes represent a growing model for providing safer water in low-income settings, yet post-distribution recontamination of treated water may limit this approach. This study evaluates drinking water quality and household water handling practices in a floating village in Tonlé Sap Lake, Cambodia, through a pilot cross-sectional study of 108 households, approximately half of which used packaged water as the main household drinking water source. We hypothesized that households purchasing drinking water from local packaged water treatment plants would have microbiologically improved drinking water at the point of consumption. We found no meaningful difference in microbiological drinking water quality between households using packaged, treated water and those collecting water from other sources, including untreated surface water, however. Households' water storage and handling practices and home hygiene may have contributed to recontamination of drinking water. Further measures to protect water quality at the point-of-use may be required even if water is treated and packaged in narrow-mouthed containers.
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Research Article|
December 05 2013
Safety of packaged water distribution limited by household recontamination in rural Cambodia
Emily J. Holman;
Emily J. Holman
1Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
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Joe Brown
2School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
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J Water Health (2014) 12 (2): 343–347.
Article history
Received:
July 08 2013
Accepted:
November 08 2013
Citation
Emily J. Holman, Joe Brown; Safety of packaged water distribution limited by household recontamination in rural Cambodia. J Water Health 1 June 2014; 12 (2): 343–347. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2013.118
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