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Groundwater contamination from rural pit latrines: examples from Siberia and Kosova.

Lookup NU author(s): David Banks

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Abstract

New hydrogeochemical data from Kosova and southern Siberia agree with previous studies from Botswana and Moldova in suggesting that high densities of pit latrines (and other domestic pollution sources) in rural villages can result in contamination of potable groundwater supplies by microbes and nitrate. Concentrations in excess of 100 mg/l nitrate have been recorded in each of these areas, at which levels small children may be endangered by methaemoglobinaemia. The sanitation and water-supply conditions are believed to be typical of large areas of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It is likely that poor sanitation and conflict with potable-water supplies are among the main sources of environmental risk to populations in these areas, rather than the industrial and military contamination upon which so many international collaborative programmes have focused.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Banks D; Karnachuk OV; Parnachev VP; Holden W; Frengstad B

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Water and Environment Journal

Year: 2002

Volume: 16

Issue: 2

Pages: 147-152

ISSN (print): 1747-6585

ISSN (electronic): 1747-6593

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2002.tb00386.x

DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2002.tb00386.x

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