A piped water supply and distribution system is intermittent when water continuity is for less than 24 hours a day or not on all days of the week. [1] [2] During this continuity defining factors are water pressure and equity. [3] [4] At least 45 countries have intermittent water supply (IWS) systems. [5] It is contrasted with a continuous or "24/7" water supply, the service standard. [6] [7] No system is intentionally designed to be intermittent, but they may become that way because of system overexpansion, leakage and other factors. [8] [9] As of 2022, there was no feasible method for modelling IWS, including no computer-aided tools. [1] Contamination issues can be associated with an intermittent water distribution system. [10] Global public health impact includes millions of cases of infections and diarrhea, and 1560 deaths annually. [11]
A continuous supply is not practical in all situations. [3] In the short term, an IWS may have some benefits. [12] These may include addressing demand with a limited supply in a more economical manner. [13] An intermittent supply may be temporary (e.g., when water reserves are low) or permanent (e.g., where the piped system cannot sustain a continuous supply). [6] Associated factors resulting from an intermittent supply include water extraction by users at the same time, resulting in low pressure and a possible higher peak demand. [14]
A large share of water supply systems around the world are intermittent; in other words, intermittent water supply is a norm. [15] [16] About 1.3 billion people have a piped supply that is intermittent, including large populations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [1] [14] This does not include those who do not get piped water at all, about 2.7 billion people. [1] Countries with intermittent supply in some areas and continuous supply in others include India [17] and South Africa. [18] In India, various cities are at various stages of constructing 24/7 supply systems, such as Chandigarh, [19] Delhi, [20] Shimla, [21] and Coimbatore. [22] In Cambodia, Phnom Penh increased coverage from 25% to 85% and duration from 10 to 24 hours a day between 1993 and 2004. [23]
Installation of storage and pumps at residences may offset the intermittency of the water supply. [6] Roof tanks are a common feature in countries where the water supply is intermittent. [24] In Jordan, most houses have one or more ground or roof tanks. An intermittent supply can be supplemented with other non-piped sources such as packaged drinking and cooking water bought from local shops or delivered to the house. [25]
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the transmission of disease, especially through the fecal–oral route. For example, diarrhea, a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, polio, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, to name just a few.
Tap water is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, cooking, washing, and toilet flushing. Indoor tap water is distributed through indoor plumbing, which has existed since antiquity but was available to very few people until the second half of the 19th century when it began to spread in popularity in what are now developed countries. Tap water became common in many regions during the 20th century, and is now lacking mainly among people in poverty, especially in developing countries.
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around the globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions. It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization.
A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following:
Water supply and sanitation in Latin America is characterized by insufficient access and in many cases by poor service quality, with detrimental impacts on public health. Water and sanitation services are provided by a vast array of mostly local service providers under an often fragmented policy and regulatory framework. Financing of water and sanitation remains a serious challenge.
In 2020, 97.7% of Indians had access to the basic water and sanitation facilities. India faces challenges ranging from sourcing water for its megacities to its distribution network which is intermittent in rural areas with continuous distribution networks just beginning to emerge. Non-revenue water is a challenge.
Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from foreign aid, much still remains to be done. Some factors inhibiting the achievement of these goals are the limited capacity of water bureaus in the country's nine regions, two city administrations and water desks in the 770 districts of Ethiopia (woredas); insufficient cost recovery for proper operation and maintenance; and different policies and procedures used by various donors, notwithstanding the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
The water supply and sanitation sector in Ghana is a sector that is in charge of the supply of healthy water and also improves the sanitation of water bodies in the country.
Bangladesh is faced with multiple water quality and quantity problems along with regular natural disasters, such as cyclones and floods. Available options for providing safe drinking water include tubewells, traditionally dug wells, treatment of surface water, desalination of groundwater with high salinity levels and rainwater harvesting.
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightly over two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. Natural sources of fresh water include surface water, under river flow, groundwater and frozen water. Artificial sources of fresh water can include treated wastewater and desalinated seawater. Human uses of water resources include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities.
Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterised by low levels of access to water and sanitation, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity in Kenya exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.
Although access to water supply and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa has been steadily improving over the last two decades, the region still lags behind all other developing regions. Access to improved water supply had increased from 49% in 1990 to 68% in 2015, while access to improved sanitation had only risen from 28% to 31% in that same period. Sub-Saharan Africa did not meet the Millennium Development Goals of halving the share of the population without access to safe drinking water and sanitation between 1990 and 2015. There still exists large disparities among sub-Saharan African countries, and between the urban and rural areas.
WASH is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achieving public health gains, improving human dignity in the case of sanitation, implementing the human right to water and sanitation, reducing the burden of collecting drinking water for women, reducing risks of violence against women, improving education and health outcomes at schools and health facilities, and reducing water pollution. Access to WASH services is also an important component of water security. Universal, affordable and sustainable access to WASH is a key issue within international development and is the focus of the first two targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Targets 6.1 and 6.2 aim at equitable and accessible water and sanitation for all. In 2017, it was estimated that 2.3 billion people live without basic sanitation facilities and 844 million people live without access to safe and clean drinking water.
Water resource policy, sometimes called water resource management or water management, encompasses the policy-making processes and legislation that affect the collection, preparation, use, disposal, and protection of water resources. Water is a necessity for all forms of life as well as industries on which humans are reliant, like technology development and agriculture. This global need for clean water access necessitates water resource policy to determine the means of supplying and protecting water resources. Water resource policy varies by region and is dependent on water availability or scarcity, the condition of aquatic systems, and regional needs for water. Since water basins do not align with national borders, water resource policy is also determined by international agreements, also known as hydropolitics. Water quality protection also falls under the umbrella of water resource policy; laws protecting the chemistry, biology, and ecology of aquatic systems by reducing and eliminating pollution, regulating its usage, and improving the quality are considered water resource policy. When developing water resource policies, many different stakeholders, environmental variables, and considerations have to be taken to ensure the health of people and ecosystems are maintained or improved. Finally, ocean zoning, coastal, and environmental resource management are also encompassed by water resource management, like in the instance of offshore wind land leasing.
Water issues in developing countries include scarcity of drinking water, poor infrastructure for water and sanitation access, water pollution, and low levels of water security. Over one billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to clean water. The main barriers to addressing water problems in developing nations include poverty, costs of infrastructure, and poor governance. The effects of climate change on the water cycle can make these problems worse.
Responsibility of water supply in Nigeria is shared between three (3) levels of government – federal, state and local. The federal government is in charge of water resources management; state governments have the primary responsibility for urban water supply; and local governments together with communities are responsible for rural water supply. The responsibility for sanitation is not clearly defined.
Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is a type of wastewater treatment process that was first invented by Professor Hallvard Ødegaard at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in the late 1980s. The process takes place in an aeration tank with plastic carriers that a biofilm can grow on. The compact size and cheap wastewater treatment costs offers many advantages for the system. The main objective of using MBBR being water reuse and nutrient removal or recovery. In theory, wastewater will be no longer considered waste, it can be considered a resource.
A water distribution system is a part of water supply network with components that carry potable water from a centralized treatment plant or wells to consumers to satisfy residential, commercial, industrial and fire fighting requirements.
Water sachets or sachet water is a common form of selling pre-filtered or sanitized water in plastic, heat sealed bags in parts of the global south, and are especially popular in Africa. Water sachets are cheaper to produce than plastic bottles, and easier to transport. In some countries, water vendors refer to sachet water as "pure water".
The primary cause of intermittent water supply is the extension of distribution systems beyond their hydraulic capacity to provide service to more customers.(Free to read)