Water quality and its interlinkages with the Sustainable Development Goals

Interlinkages among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lead to important trade-offs and synergies among the goals and their underlying targets. The aim of this paper is to review the role of water quality as an agent of interlinkages among the SDGs. It was found that there are a small number of explicit interconnections, but many more inferred interlinkages between water quality and various targets. A review of case studies showed that interlinkages operate from the municipal to near global scales, that their importance is likely to increase in developing countries, and that new SDG indicators are needed to monitor them. The analysis identifies many different SDG target areas where a combined effort between the water quality community and other sectors would bring mutual benefits in achieving the water quality and other targets

Interrogating the Applicability of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Model in the Context of a Changing Climate

The global response to the increasing water scarcity in the last twenty years has been water policy reforms directed towards the implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM).This was expected to promote the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. This paper interrogates the applicability of the model in the context of a changing climate using literature sources and personal experiences with the model. The paper summarises literature at global level that supported the adoption of the model and literature that has in the past five years questioned the suitability of one type of prescription for varied and complex catchments. The adoption of IWRM has promoted stakeholder participation at catchment level and in a way improved water allocation mechanisms basing on the water that is available. However, little consideration was given to the host of other factors including climate change and the complex definition of sustainable development. The paper further demonstrates how this model of water resources management is unlikely to work for different social and environmental contexts

A systematic critical review of epidemiological studies on public health concerns of municipal solid waste handling

AIMS : The ultimate aim of this review was to summarise the epidemiological evidence on the association between municipal solid waste management operations and health risks to populations residing near landfills and incinerators, waste workers and recyclers. To accomplish this, the sub-aims of this review article were to (1) examine the health risks posed by municipal solid waste management activities, (2) determine the strengths and gaps of available literature on health risks from municipal waste management operations and (3) suggest possible research needs for future studies.METHODS : The article reviewed epidemiological literature on public health concerns of municipal solid waste handling published in the period 1995-2014. The PubMed and MEDLINE computerised literature searches were employed to identify the relevant papers using the keywords solid waste, waste management, health risks, recycling, landfills and incinerators. Additionally, all references of potential papers were examined to determine more articles that met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS : A total of 379 papers were identified, but after intensive screening only 72 met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Of these studies, 33 were on adverse health effects in communities living near waste dumpsites or incinerators, 24 on municipal solid waste workers and 15 on informal waste recyclers. Reviewed studies were unable to demonstrate a causal or non-causal relationship due to various limitations. CONCLUSION : In light of the above findings, our review concludes that overall epidemiological evidence in reviewed articles is inadequate mainly due to methodological limitations and future research needs to develop tools capable of demonstrating causal or non-causal relationships between specific waste management operations and adverse health endpoints.http://pph.sagepub.comhb2017School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH