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Resolving the relative contributions of cistern and pour flushing to toilet water usage: Measurements from urban test sites in India.

ABSTRACT: A challenge in water reuse for toilet flushing in India and other Asian countries derives from pour flushing practices. It is a common assumption that the amount of pour flushed water used for personal cleansing is small in comparison to the cistern flush volume, however there is a knowledge gap regarding the actual contribution of each water source to the blackwater amount. In this study, digital water meters were used to measure the fraction of water from personal wash tap relative to cistern water that is used for toilet flushing. High temporal resolution measurements were carried in three different urban sites in the city of Coimbatore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu where onsite sanitation treatment prototypes that may provide reclaimed water for cistern flushing are being tested. Data collected over periods of up to 2 months show that the contribution of the cistern flush to the total blackwater volume is low (14-40%). These data highlight an important factor to inform interventions designed around water reuse for flushing in world geographies where personal toilet cleansing by water is the common practice.

SUBMITTER: Welling CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7272130 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Resolving the relative contributions of cistern and pour flushing to toilet water usage: Measurements from urban test sites in India.

Welling Claire M CM Varigala Siva S Krishnaswamy Srinivas S Raj Antony A Lynch Brendon B Piascik Jeffrey R JR Stoner Brian R BR Hawkins Brian T BT Hegarty-Craver Meghan M Luettgen Michael J MJ Grego Sonia S

The Science of the total environment 20200425

A challenge in water reuse for toilet flushing in India and other Asian countries derives from pour flushing practices. It is a common assumption that the amount of pour flushed water used for personal cleansing is small in comparison to the cistern flush volume, however there is a knowledge gap regarding the actual contribution of each water source to the blackwater amount. In this study, digital water meters were used to measure the fraction of water from personal wash tap relative to cistern ...[more]

PMID: 32402964

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Project description:BackgroundInconsistent toilet usage is a continuing challenge in India. Despite the impact of social expectations on toilet usage, few programs and studies have developed theoretically grounded norm-centric behavior change interventions to increase toilet use in low-income settings.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to detail the rationale and design of an ex ante, parallel cluster-randomized trial evaluating the impact of a demand-side, norm-centric behavior change intervention on exclusive toilet use and maintenance in peri-urban Tamil Nadu, India.MethodsFollowing formative research, we developed an evidence-based norm-centric behavior change intervention called Nam Nalavazhvu (Tamil for "our well-being"). The multilevel intervention aims to improve toilet usage by shifting empirical expectations or beliefs about other relevant people's sanitation practices. It also provides action-oriented information to aid individuals to set goals and overcome barriers to own, consistently use, and maintain their toilets. This trial includes 76 wards in the Pudukkottai and Karur districts, where half were randomly assigned to receive the intervention and the remaining served as counterfactuals.ResultsWe enrolled wards and conducted a baseline survey among randomly selected individuals in all 76 wards. The 1-year behavior change intervention is currently ongoing. At the endline, we will collect relevant data and compare results between study arms to determine the impacts of the Nam Nalavazhvu intervention on sanitation-related behavioral, health, and well-being outcomes and potential moderators. This study is powered to detect differences in the prevalence of exclusive toilet use between study arms. We are also conducting a process evaluation to understand the extent to which the intervention was implemented as designed, given the special pandemic context.ConclusionsFindings from this trial will inform norm-centric behavior change strategies to improve exclusive toilet usage.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04269824; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04269824.International registered report identifier (irrid)DERR1-10.2196/24407.

Project description:Investigating sources of microbial contamination in urban streams, especially when there are no contributions from combined sewer overflows or sewage effluent discharges, can be challenging. The objectives of this study were to identify the sources of microbes in an urban stream and quantify their relative contributions to the microbial community in the stream under dry and wet weather conditions. A microbial source tracking method relying on the 16S rRNA gene was used to investigate the microbial communities in water samples of an urban stream (i.e., from 11 dry and 6 wet weather events), as well as in streambed sediment, soils, street sweepings, sanitary sewage, an upstream lake, and feces of animals and birds collected between 2013 and 2015. The results showed that the Escherichia coli levels in the stream were significantly higher in wet weather flow than in dry weather flow. The upstream lake contributed approximately 93% of the microbes in dry weather flows. Water discharged from storm drain outfalls was the biggest source of microbes in wet weather flows, with a median contribution of approximately 90% in the rising limb and peak flow and about 75% in the declining limb of storms. Furthermore, about 70 to 75% of the microbes in the storm drain outfall water came from materials washed off from the street surfaces in the watershed. Fecal samples did not appear to contribute substantially to the microbes in environmental samples. The results highlight the significance of street surfaces in contributing microbial loads to urban streams under wet weather conditions.IMPORTANCE Identifying the sources of microbial contamination is important for developing best management practices to protect the water quality of urban streams for recreational uses. This study collected a large number of water samples from an urban stream under both dry and wet weather conditions and provided quantitative information on the relative contributions of various environmental compartments to the overall microbial contamination in the stream under the two weather conditions. The watershed in this study represents urban watersheds where no dominant fecal sources are consistently present. The findings highlight the importance of reducing the direct contribution of microbes from street surfaces in the watershed to urban streams under wet weather conditions. The methods and findings from this study are expected to be useful to stormwater managers and regulatory agencies.

Dataset Information

Resolving the relative contributions of cistern and pour flushing to toilet water usage: Measurements from urban test sites in India.

Publications

Resolving the relative contributions of cistern and pour flushing to toilet water usage: Measurements from urban test sites in India.

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