In this paper we analyse the feasibility of low voltage iron electrocoagulation as a means of municipal secondary effluent treatment with a focus on removal of microbial indicators, Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (ARB) and nutrients. A laboratory scale batch unit equipped with iron electrodes was used on synthetic and real secondary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Synthetic secondary effluent was separately assayed with spiked Escherichia coli WR1 and with bacteriophage ΦX174, while real effluent samples were screened before and after treatment for E. coli, Extended Spectrum Betalactamase-producing E. coli, Enterococci, Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci, Clostridium perfringens spores and somatic coliphages. Charge dosage (CD) and charge dosage rate (CDR) were used as the main process control parameters. Experiments with synthetic secondary effluent showed >4log₁₀ and >5log₁₀ removal for phage ΦX174 and for E. coli WR1, respectively. In real effluents, bacterial indicator removal exceeded 3.5log₁₀, ARB were removed below detection limit (≥2.5log₁₀), virus removal reached 2.3log₁₀ and C. perfringens spore removal exceeded 2.5log₁₀. Experiments in both real and synthetic wastewater showed that bacterial removal increased with increasing CD and decreasing CDR. Virus removal increased with increasing CD but was irresponsive to CDR. C. perfringens spore removal increased with increasing CD yet reached a removal plateau, being also irresponsive to CDR. Phosphate removal exceeded 99%, while total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand removal were below 15% and 58%, respectively. Operational cost estimates were made for power and iron plate consumption, and were found to be in the range of 0.01 to 0.24€/m³ for the different assayed configurations. In conclusion, low voltage Fe-EC is a promising technology for pathogen reduction of secondary municipal effluents, with log₁₀ removals comparable to those achieved by conventional disinfection methods such as chlorination, UV or ozonation.

Risk assessment for drinking water systems combines sanitary inspections (SI) and water quality testing and is critical for effectively managing the safety of these systems. SI forms consist of question sets relating to the presence of potential sources and pathways of contamination specific to different types of water points, piped distribution systems, and household collection and storage practices. As part of the revision to the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (GDWQ), the World Health Organization (WHO) is updating the suite of SI forms to reflect and include the most recent technical and scientific information available. This paper reports the results from a field pilot of a selection of published and revised SI forms and water quality testing in the municipality of Bushenyi-Ishaka, Uganda. We collected data from 45 springs, 61 taps from piped distribution systems, and 129 household storage containers filled with water from those springs and taps. The median total risk scores, according to the revised forms, for spring, tap, and household practices were 36, 53, and 33%, respectively, with higher percentages indicating greater risk. The median Escherichia coli concentrations of spring, tap, and household storage systems were 17, <1, and 7 CFU/100 mL, respectively. We found that increased questioning in the revised SI forms do not necessarily translate to a higher total risk. There is potential for misinterpretation of terminology in the revised SI forms and occasional redundancy of concepts. For the revised SI form for springs, we suggest specific text changes to reduce potential bias. We recommend that users of SI forms receive training in their use and be familiar with their locale. Furthermore, the revised SI forms may need to be adapted in accordance with the local context.

Possible transmission pathways of fungi in indoor swimming pool facilities were assessed through fungal counting in different areas of the facilities and typing of the collected fungal isolates. Air, water and surface samples were collected from seven different indoor swimming pool facilities. Fungal species were identified based on their internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Maximum fungal concentrations of 6.2 CFU/cm², 1.39 CFU/100 mL, and 202 CFU/m³ were found on surfaces, in water and air, respectively. In total, 458 isolates were obtained, belonging to 111 fungal species, of which 50 species were clinically relevant. Phialophora oxyspora (13.3%) and Trichosporon dohaense (5.0%) were the most frequently isolated species and were merely detected on floors, as were the dermatophytes, Trichophyton interdigitale and T. rubrum. Penicillium spp. and Aspergillus spp. were the dominant fungi in water and air. No typical patterns of fungal concentrations along the preferential pathways of pool visitors were observed, however, sites where pool visitors converge while moving from one room (e.g. dressing room) to another (e.g. shower room) and walking barefoot displayed the highest fungal concentrations thus posing the highest risk of contamination. The dispersal of fungi on floors is most likely facilitated by the pool visitors and cleaning tools. Clinically relevant fungi, including the ones rarely identified in nature, were widely detected on floors, in water and in air, as well as on cleaning tools and flexibeams. Preventive measures such as cleaning should minimize the prevalence of clinically relevant fungi in swimming pool facilities since these potentially pose health risks to those vulnerable for infections.

Urban political ecology attempts to unravel and politicize the socio-ecological processes that produce uneven waterscapes. At the core of this analysis are the choreographies of power that influence how much water flows through urban infrastructure as well as where it flows, thereby shaping conditions and quality of access in cities. If these analyses have been prolific in demonstrating uneven distribution of infrastructures and water quantity, the political ecology of water quality remains largely overlooked. In this paper, we argue that there is a clear theoretical and practical need to address questions of quality in relation to water access in the South. We show that conceptual resources for considering differentiated drinking water quality are already present within urban political ecology. We then contend that an interdisciplinary approach, highlighting the interdependencies between politics, power, and physiochemical and microbiological contamination of drinking water, can further our understandings of both uneven distribution of water contamination and the conceptualisation of inequalities in the urban waterscape. We illustrate our argument through the case of water supply in Lilongwe, Malawi. Our political ecology analysis starts from an examination of the physicochemical and microbiological quality of water supplied by the formal water utility across urban spaces in Lilongwe. We then present the topography of water (quality) inequalities in Lilongwe and identify the political processes underlying the production of differentiated water quality within the centralised network. This paper thereby serves as a deepening of urban political ecology as well as a demonstration of how this approach might be taken forward in the analysis of urbanism and water supplies.

The density of fungal contamination and the fungal diversity in an indoor swimming pool facility were assessed. A total of 16 surface samples and 6 water samples were analysed by using a combination of different (semi-) selective culture media. Isolated fungal colonies were identified to the genus or species level by sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The highest fungal counts in water and on surfaces were in the recreational pool (17 CFU/100 mL) and on a flexibeam (5.8 CFU/cm²), respectively as compared with low counts (<0.1 CFU/cm²) on the diving platform, bench tops and walls. The 357 obtained isolates belonged to 79 species and species complexes, 42 of which known as clinically relevant. Phialophora oxyspora (13.7%) and Phoma spp. (12.3%) were the most frequently identified groups. We demonstrated that despite chlorine treatment and regular cleaning of surfaces both water and surfaces were commonly infested with fungi, including many clinically relevant species.

The occurrence of 32 pharmaceuticals and 14 UV filters in swimming pools and spas was studied. Fifty-one water samples were collected from 17 pools located in sport centres and hotels in Catalonia, Spain. The samples were analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pharmaceuticals atenolol, carbamazepine, hydrochlorothiazide, metronidazole, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, ketoprofen and phenazone were measured in water samples at concentrations higher than their limit of quantification (LOQ). The highest concentration of any individual pharmaceutical was measured for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (904 ng/L). The most frequently detected pharmaceutical was carbamazepine, as it was observed in more than half of all the water samples measured (53 %, 27/51). The UV filters at concentrations higher than LOQ in water samples were BP1, BP2, BP3, BP8, THB, 4DHB, 4MBC, OD-PABA, 1HBT, MeBT and DMeBT. The highest concentration of UV filter observed was 4MBC (69.3 ng/L) while the most frequent UV filters in the samples were 1HBT (59 %, 30/51). The results also showed that pharmaceuticals and UV filters were most frequently found in spas. Finally, from a water treatment technology perspective, the lowest occurrence of pharmaceuticals was in the pools applying sand filters followed by disinfection by sodium hypochlorite, while the lowest occurrence of UV filters was in the pools applying coagulation, sand filtration, UV and salt electrolysis.

Over past decades strategies for improving access to drinking water in cities of the Global South have mainly focused on increasing coverage, while water quality has often been overlooked. This paper focuses on drinking water quality in the centralized water supply network of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. It shows how microbial contamination of drinking water is unequally distributed to consumers in low-income (unplanned areas) and higher-income neighbourhoods (planned areas). Microbial contamination and residual disinfectant concentration were measured in 170 water samples collected from in-house taps in high-income areas and from kiosks and water storage facilities in low-income areas between November 2014 and January 2015. Faecal contamination (Escherichia coli) was detected in 10% of the 40 samples collected from planned areas, in 59% of the 64 samples collected from kiosks in the unplanned areas and in 75% of the 32 samples of water stored at household level. Differences in water quality in planned and unplanned areas were found to be statistically significant at p < 0.05. Finally, the paper shows how the inequalities in microbial contamination of drinking water are produced by decisions both on the development of the water supply infrastructure and on how this is operated and maintained.