A recent study in Brazil suggests that contaminated drinking water in storage vessels may be an important factor for the documented diarrhoea disease burden in Brazilian shanty towns [1]. To determine the frequency of contaminated water, researchers from the University of Virginia measured faecal contamination in primary drinking water samples from 231 randomly selected households in a shanty town in north-east Brazil. Risk for contamination was compared across source and storage types. Nearly a third of the study households had contaminated drinking water; the source with the highest frequency of contamination was well water. For tap water, the type of storage had a significant effect on the susceptibility to contamination. The observed pattern of contamination demonstrated the relative potential contributions of both source and storage.

[1] Copeland, C.C. … [et al.] (2009). Faecal contamination of drinking water in a Brazilian shanty town: importance of household storage and new human faecal marker testing. Journal of water and health ; vol. 07, no. 2 : p. 324-331. doi:10.2166/wh.2009.081

Contact: Richard L. Guerrant, University of Virginia Center for Global Health, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA, guerrant@virginia.edu

Tags: latin america & caribbean, water quality, water-related diseases