Comparing cost-effectiveness of surface water flood management interventions in a UK catchment

This is the final published version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Despite significant consequences caused by recent events, surface water flooding has historically been of lower priority relative to fluvial and coastal risks in UK flood management. Legislation and research proposes a variety of innovative interventions to address this; however, widespread application of these remains a challenge due to a number of institutional, economic, and technical barriers. This research applies a framework capable of fast and high-resolution assessment of intervention cost-effectiveness as an opportunity to improve available evidence and encourage uptake of interventions through analysing permutations of type, scale, and distribution in urban catchments. Fast assessment of many scenarios is achieved using a cellular automata flood model and a simplified representation of interventions. Conventional and green strategies are examined across a range of design standard and high-magnitude rainfall events in an urban catchment. Results indicate high-volume rainwater capture interventions demonstrate a significant reduction in estimated annual damage costs, and localised surface water drainage interventions exhibit high cost-effectiveness for damage reduction. Analysis of performance across a wide range of return periods enhances available evidence for option comparison decision support and provides a basis for future resilience assessment of interventions.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Assessing rural small community water supply in Limpopo, South Africa: Water service benchmarks and reliability

Although a number of studies have reported on water supply improvements, few have simultaneously taken into account the reliability of the water services. The study aimed to assess whether upgrading water supply systems in small rural communities improved access, availability and potability of water by assessing the water services against selected benchmarks from the World Health Organisation and South African Department of Water Affairs, and to determine the impact of unreliability on the services. These benchmarks were applied in three rural communities in Limpopo, South Africa where rudimentary water supply services were being upgraded to basic services. Data were collected through structured interviews, observations and measurement, and multi-level linear regression models were used to assess the impact of water service upgrades on key outcome measures of distance to source, daily per capita water quantity and Escherichia coli count. When the basic system was operational, 72% of households met the minimum benchmarks for distance and water quantity, but only 8% met both enhanced benchmarks. During non-operational periods of the basic service, daily per capita water consumption decreased by 5.19 l (p < 0.001, 95% CI 4.06–6.31) and distances to water sources were 639 m further (p = 0.001, 95% CI 560–718). Although both rudimentary and basic systems delivered water that met potability criteria at the sources, the quality of stored water sampled in the home was still unacceptable throughout the various service levels. These results show that basic water services can make substantial improvements to water access, availability, potability, but only if such services are reliable

Consumption of nonpublic water: implications for children's caries experience

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com Copyright © 2006 International Association for the Study of Pain Published by Elsevier B.V. Copyright © 2006 Blackwell MunksgaardAbstract – There are concerns that the consumption of unfluoridated bottled and tank water may put children at increased risk of developing caries. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nonpublic water consumption (either from bottles or rainwater tanks) and socioeconomic status (SES) and both deciduous and permanent caries experience. Methods: A random sample of children enrolled in the School Dental Service of South Australia participated in the study (response rate = 71.8%, n = 9988). Results: Forty-five per cent of children had greater than 50% lifetime consumption of nonpublic water while 36% of children had 0% lifetime consumption. Increased use of nonpublic water occurred for children from lower socioeconomic groups, two-parent families and children from nonmetropolitan areas, with these results most likely a result of the residential location of the children. Multivariate modelling revealed a significant positive relationship between deciduous caries experience and consumption of nonpublic water, even after controlling for the age and sex of the child, SES and residential location. This relationship was significant only for those children with 100% lifetime availability of fluoridated water. The effect of consumption of nonpublic water on permanent caries experience was not significant. It is postulated that these findings may result from the lower caries activity in the permanent dentition of children aged 10–15 and possible dietary confounders. Conclusion: Recommendations are made for the addition of fluoride to bottled water, especially with regard to the oral health of younger children.Jason M. Armfield and A. John Spence