Considering Alternate Pathways of Drinking-Water Contamination: Evidence of Risk Substitution from Arsenic Mitigation Programs in Rural Bangladesh

Varun Goel, Griffin J. Bell, Sumati Sridhar, Md. Sirajul Islam, Md. Yunus, Md. Taslim Ali, Md. Alfazal Khan, Md. Nurul Alam, Faruque Asg, Md. Masnoon Kabir, Shahabuddin Babu, Katerina Brandt, Victoria Shelus, Mark D. Sobsey and Michael Emch
Additional contact information
Varun Goel: Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
Griffin J. Bell: Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Sumati Sridhar: Department of Statistics, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
Md. Sirajul Islam: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Md. Yunus: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Md. Taslim Ali: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Md. Alfazal Khan: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Md. Nurul Alam: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Faruque Asg: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Md. Masnoon Kabir: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Shahabuddin Babu: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Katerina Brandt: Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
Victoria Shelus: Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Mark D. Sobsey: Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Michael Emch: Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: Deep tubewells are a key component of arsenic mitigation programs in rural Bangladesh. Compared to widely prevalent shallow tubewells, deep tubewells reduce ground-water arsenic exposure and provide better microbial water quality at source. However, the benefits of clean drinking-water at these more distant sources may be abated by higher levels of microbial contamination at point-of-use. One such potential pathway is the use of contaminated surface water for washing drinking-water storage containers. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of surface water use for washing drinking-water storage containers among deep and shallow tubewell users in a cohort of 499 rural residents in Matlab, Bangladesh. We employ a multi-level logistic regression model to measure the effect of tubewell type and ownership status on the odds of washing storage containers with surface water. Results show that deep tubewell users who do not own their drinking-water tubewell, have 6.53 times the odds [95% CI: 3.56, 12.00] of using surface water for cleaning storage containers compared to shallow tubewell users, who own their drinking-water source. Even deep tubewell users who own a private well within walking distance have 2.53 [95% CI: 1.36, 4.71] times the odds of using surface water compared to their shallow tubewell counterparts. These results highlight the need for interventions to limit risk substitution, particularly the increased use of contaminated surface water when access to drinking water is reduced. Increasing ownership of and proximity to deep tubewells, although crucial, is insufficient to achieve equity in safe drinking-water access across rural Bangladesh.

Keywords: drinking water quality; Bangladesh; household water storage; arsenic mitigation; risk substitution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5372/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5372/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:15:p:5372-:d:389984

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().