Waterborne Disease Reduction Using Evidence-based Microbiology Verification in Lower Nyakach, Kenya

Waterborne diseases continue to plague the poorest people in low-income countries and are estimated to cause 4,600,000 acute incidents of diarrhea resulting in over 2,000 deaths daily. A major challenge is performing microbiology tests to monitor drinking water quality. Friends of the Old (FOTO) implemented a novel strategy using evidence-based microbiology to educate communities about the relationship between contaminated water and disease. Two commercially available tests for E.coli, adapted for fieldwork, provided easily interpreted results of contamination that correlate with WHO\u27s disease risk categories. Simple and effective household water treatment options \u27solar pasteurization and/or chlorination\u27 were provided to all 14,400 families and 42 schools in Lower Nyakach, Kenya. From February to May, 2015, adjacent districts had serious cholera outbreaks, but in Lower Nyakach, where education and the use of chlorine were nearly universal, there were no cases of cholera and steadily decreasing rates of diarrhea. A cross-sectional study was conducted to verify self-reported water treatment practices with evidence-based microbiological testing. A random sample of 377 households revealed that 95% treat their water each and every time they collect. Microbiological verification found 96% of household safe water storage vessels were low risk compared to their very high risk source water. A strong association (p \u3c 0.001) existed between the observed decrease in diarrhea trends from health facilities in Lower Nyakach and exposure to the novel training. The strategy used by FOTO could be replicated to empower communities worldwide to identify contaminated drinking water sources and to reduce the incidence of waterborne disease

Diversity of Flower-visiting Bees and their Pollen Loads on a Wildflower Seed Farm in Montana

During a two-year survey on a wildflower seed farm in southcentral Montana, we collected ∼50 species of bees from 18 genera in sweep samples on cultivated wildflowers and weeds. The two cultivated plant species most intensively sampled attracted different assemblages of bee visitors. Slender white prairie clover (Dalea candida) attracted 27 species, 94% of visitors being Apis mellifera (73%), Lasioglossum spp., Colletes phaceliae, and Bombus spp. Prairie coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) attracted 20 species, the majority being Halictus rubicundus and three Melissodes species; only 3% of visitors to this plant were A. mellifera, despite the fact that the coneflower field was closer to an apiary than were the prairie clover fields. Other apparently non-random plant-bee associations included A. mellifera onOnobrychis viciaefolia, Bombus spp. on Astragalus cicer, and Halictus ligatus and aMelissodes sp. on Symphyotrichum chilensis. Analysis of pollen loads suggests high flower constancy for A. mellifera, Bombus spp., and many of the native solitary bee species foraging on cultivated plants. The low numbers of honey bees on certain plants suggest that native, non-managed bees of such genera as Bombus, Melissodes, Halictus, and Lasioglossum may be critical for plant species for which honey bees show relatively low preference (especially when highly-preferred species such as D. candida are abundant)

Toxicity of Sediments in the Illinois Waterway: Implications for the Proposed Increases in Diversion of Lake Michigan Water into the Illinois Waterway

issued July 31, 1983Report issued on: July 31, 1983PROJECT COMPLTETICtr REPORT Illinois Departmentt of Transportation Division of Water Resources STIL-TRWRTOXSED39483INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Department of Transportatio

The Environment and Trade Agreements: Should the WTO Become More Actively Involved

The article first explores several basic arguments concerning whether the World Trade Organization (WTO) should require member states to adopt environmental standards as major components of international trade agreements. Section II provides a brief background on the debate surrounding environmental aspects of trade agreements and their relationship to development. Section III discusses the benefits and problems associated with enforcing environmental standards through the WTO. Section IV provides arguments for the incorporation of environmental standards in trade agreements through the WTO

A Primer On International Environmental Law: Sustainability As A Principle Of International Law And Custom

International environmental law draws from two important sources: international treaties and conventions\u27 and customary international law

APPLE PRODUCTION, VOLE CONTROL, AND WILD TURKEYS: FINDING A BALANCE IN VERMONT

Meadow voles (Crotus pennsylvanicus) and pine voles (Crotus inetorum) cause extensive damage to apple trees by gnawing and girdling trunk and root systems. In 1991, approximately 70% of Vermont\u27s 90 commercial apple producers were using zinc phosphide (ZP) treated cracked corn to manage vole damage. From November 1991 throughout January 1992, 36 confirmed wild turkey deaths were attributed to the broadcast application of ZP treated cracked coin in Vermont orchards. As a result of public concern regarding impacts to nontarget wild turkeys, a working group was formed with representation of various state and federal agencies as well as the apple industry to address this issue and review current vole damage management strategies. Since 1992, statewide voluntary compliance with working group recommendations that included shifting to ZP treated rolled oats have reduced the risk of wild turkey exposure to ZP. In this paper we discuss the effectiveness of the working group recommendations as measured by a mail survey of apple producers as well as a preliminary 4-year analysis of statewide rodenticide sales

Analysis of a Mussel Die-off in Pools 14 and 15 of the Upper Mississippi River

Non-game Check-off Program, Illinois Department of Conservation Grant no. 1986-032Wunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Glaciological studies in the central Andes using AIRSAR/TOPSAR

The interaction of climate and topography in mountainous regions is dramatically expressed in the spatial distribution of glaciers and snowcover. Monitoring existing alpine glaciers and snow extent provides insight into the present mountain climate system and how it is changing, while mapping the positions of former glaciers as recorded in landforms such as cirques and moraines provide a record of the large past climate change associated with the last glacial maximum. The Andes are an ideal mountain range in which to study the response of snow and ice to past and present climate change. Their expansive latitudinal extent offers the opportunity to study glaciers in diverse climate settings from the tropical glaciers of Peru and Bolivia to the ice caps and tide-water glaciers of sub-polar Patagonia. SAR has advantages over traditional passive remote sensing instruments for monitoring present snow and ice and differentiating moraine relative ages. The cloud penetrating ability of SAR is indispensable for perennially cloud covered mountains. Snow and ice facies can be distinguished from SAR's response to surface roughness, liquid water content and grain size distribution. The combination of SAR with a coregestered high-resolution DEM (TOPSAR) provides a promising tool for measuring glacier change in three dimensions, thus allowing ice volume change to be measured directly. The change in moraine surface roughness over time enables SAR to differentiate older from younger moraines. Polarimetric SAR data have been used to distinguish snow and ice facies and relatively date moraines. However, both algorithms are still experimental and require ground truth verification. We plan to extend the SAR classification of snow and ice facies and moraine age beyond the ground truth sites to throughout the Cordillera Real to provide a regional view of past and present snow and ice. The high resolution DEM will enhance the SAR moraine dating technique by discriminating relative ages based on moraine slope degradation