WASH in rural Cambodian primary schools: roles, responsibilities, attitudes and priorities of key stakeholders

A sustained and sufficient school water, sanitation, and hygiene (sWASH) environment consisting of strong WASH facilities, services, and practice is very important for student health and to reduce absenteeism. A strong sWASH environment may be associated with various contextual, institutional, and psychosocial factors internal to school governance, management, and decision-making. To address a knowledge gap and to inform future design and implementation of sWASH programs in Cambodia, an innovative and comprehensive cross-sectional study of 24 rural primary schools was completed to understand the roles of key players in sWASH in Cambodia, while also examining the decision-making processes and priorities at leadership levels. Our findings suggest the sWASH context in Cambodia is diverse and complex. Satisfaction with current sWASH services is low, even in cases of recent government or non-government organization intervention. School directors have ideas to improve WASH facilities and services and have identified these as priorities. Funding is scarce, and roles and responsibilities are shared among key stakeholders

Pond-Derived Organic Carbon Driving Changes in Arsenic Hazard Found in Asian Groundwaters

Microbially mediated reductive processes involving the oxidation of labile organic carbon are widely considered to be critical to the release of arsenic into shallow groundwaters in South and Southeast Asia. In areas where there is significant pumping of groundwater for irrigation the involvement of surface-derived organic carbon drawn down from ponds into the underlying aquifers has been proposed but remains highly controversial. Here we present isotopic data from two sites with contrasting groundwater pumping histories that unequivocally demonstrate the ingress of surface pond-derived organic carbon into arsenic-containing groundwaters. We show that pond-derived organic carbon is transported to depths of up to 50 m even in an arsenic-contaminated aquifer in Cambodia thought to be minimally disturbed by groundwater pumping. In contrast, in the extensively exploited groundwaters of West Bengal, we show that pond-derived organic carbon is transported in shallow groundwater to greater depths, in excess of 100 m in the aquifer. Intensive pumping of groundwaters may potentially drive secular increases in the groundwater arsenic hazard in this region by increasing the contribution of bioavailable pond-derived dissolved organic carbon drawn into these aquifer systems and transporting it to greater depths than would operate under natural flow conditions