Social Perspective and Water Resources

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 2999

Special Issue Editor

Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, United Nations University, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Interests: environmental health risk assessment; environmental monitoring; water quality; water security

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

“There is plenty of water in the universe without life but there is no life without water”—Dr. Sylvia Earle.  While sustainable development goal 6 aims to ensure access to water and sanitation for all, worldwide, one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water, and two out of five people do not have a basic hand-washing facility with soap and water. World figures show that 3 in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. Water scarcity affects more than 40% of the global population and is projected to rise. Over 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge. Urban settlements in low- and middle-income countries are facing chronic water scarcity, and variations in the use of multiple water sources are in practice. Societies are in the process of creating and adapting coping strategies for water shortage. There are linkages between public health and the quality, quantity, and reliability of water supplies, as well as the public health impacts of excreta and wastewater management and re-use. While the requirement for water is deemed necessary for economic sustainability, water security at the micro scale or the household or society level is equally important.

Water insecurity is deeply connected to well-being. There are more indirect connections between water security and health, such as the public health impacts of productive water use, the psychological impact of water scarcity, and conflict over water resources. Water scarcity has further widened the gender inequality gap. Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 80% of households without access to water on the premises. Water-resilient communities are water secure and sustainably manage water resources. On the other hand, the governance of water resources is key for water security.

With this Special Issue, we are trying to emphasize the different dynamics of the impact that water resources, their availability, and quality have on society and vice versa, and the efforts of society and the government to achieve water security. In this Special Issue, we welcome various types of disciplinary or inter-disciplinary manuscripts, such as research articles, reviews, and conceptual papers, that seek to contribute to the analysis of “Social perspective and water resources”.

Dr. Sadhana Shrestha
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water security
  • water governance
  • water and well-being
  • water scarcity
  • water quality
  • water and public health
  • water resource management

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 1553 KiB  
Article
WASH and Health in Sindhupalchowk District of Nepal after the Gorkha Earthquake
by Salina Shrestha, Rabin Malla and Futaba Kazama
Societies 2022, 12(3), 91; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/soc12030091 - 09 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2358
Abstract
An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 MW and 6.8 MW struck Nepal on 25 April and 12 May, 2015, respectively, which caused massive damage. In such crises, understanding the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situation is of paramount importance. Therefore, we aimed [...] Read more.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 MW and 6.8 MW struck Nepal on 25 April and 12 May, 2015, respectively, which caused massive damage. In such crises, understanding the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situation is of paramount importance. Therefore, we aimed to assess the WASH situation and its impact on health, particularly in the Sindhupalchowk district. A questionnaire survey and microbial analysis of water samples were conducted. Descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric statistical tests were employed. The results revealed that 97.1% of water samples from the source during the pre-monsoon season and 98.5% during the monsoon season had fecal contamination. Similarly, 92.8% of water samples during the pre-monsoon season and 96.7% during the monsoon season at point of use (PoU) had fecal contamination. Furthermore, water consumption was comparatively less during the pre-monsoon season. The increase in water consumption improved hygiene behavior and lowered the prevalence of waterborne diseases. Similarly, less water consumption affected water handling behavior; for example, the cleaning interval of storage vessels was less frequent. An increase in cleaning interval resulted in fecal contamination of water at PoU. The findings of this study can be useful in the review of existing WASH policy and plans and integration with the disaster management plan for disaster risk reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Perspective and Water Resources)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop