Publications related to Wastewater/Sanitation
22012
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Making Waves: The Benefits and Challenges of Responsibly Implementing Wastewater-based Surveillance for Rural Communities

Authors:  Cohen, A., Vikesland, P., Pruden, A., Krometis, L.-A., Lee, L.M., Darling, A., Yancey, M., Helmick, M., Singh, R., Gonzalez, R., Meit, M., Degen, M., & Taniuchi, M.

Publication Year:  2023  |  Journal / Publisher:  Water Research

JOURNAL PUBLICATION

Abstract/Summary: The sampling and analysis of sewage for pathogens and other biomarkers offers a powerful tool for monitoring and understanding community health trends and potentially predicting disease outbreaks. Since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of wastewater-based testing for public health surveillance has increased markedly. However, these efforts have focused on urban and peri-urban areas. The potential public health benefits of wastewater-based surveillance for rural communities are substantial – though so too are the methodological and ethical challenges. Practitioner observations and research findings indicate that for many rural systems, typical implementation approaches for wastewater-based surveillance will not yield sufficiently reliable or actionable results. In this paper, we discuss key challenges and potential strategies to address them. However, to support and expand the implementation of responsible, reliable, and ethical wastewater-based surveillance for rural communities, best practice guidelines and standards are needed.

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Subsewershed SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance & COVID-19 Epidemiology Using Building-specific Occupancy & Case Data

Authors:  Cohen, A.,Maile-Moskowitz, A., Grubb, C., Gonzalez, R. A., Ceci, A., Darling, A., Hungerford, L., Fricker, R. D., Finkielstein, C. V., Pruden, A., & Vikesland, P. J.

Publication Year:  2022  |  Journal / Publisher:  Environmental Science & Technology - Water

JOURNAL PUBLICATION

Abstract/Summary: To evaluate the use of wastewater-based surveillance and epidemiology to monitor and predict SARS-CoV-2 virus trends, over the 2020–2021 academic year we collected wastewater samples twice weekly from 17 manholes across Virginia Tech’s main campus. We used data from external door swipe card readers and student isolation/quarantine status to estimate building-specific occupancy and COVID-19 case counts at a daily resolution. After analyzing 673 wastewater samples using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), we reanalyzed 329 samples from isolation and nonisolation dormitories and the campus sewage outflow using reverse transcription digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR). Population-adjusted viral copy means from isolation dormitory wastewater were 48% and 66% higher than unadjusted viral copy means for N and E genes (1846/100 mL to 2733/100 mL/100 people and 2312/100 mL to 3828/100 mL/100 people, respectively; n = 46). Prespecified analyses with random-effects Poisson regression and dormitory/cluster-robust standard errors showed that the detection of N and E genes were associated with increases of 85% and 99% in the likelihood of COVID-19 cases 8 days later (incident–rate ratio (IRR) = 1.845, p = 0.013 and IRR = 1.994, p = 0.007, respectively; n = 215), and one-log increases in swipe card normalized viral copies (copies/100 mL/100 people) for N and E were associated with increases of 21% and 27% in the likelihood of observing COVID-19 cases 8 days following sample collection (IRR = 1.206, p < 0.001, n = 211 for N; IRR = 1.265, p < 0.001, n = 211 for E). One-log increases in swipe normalized copies were also associated with 40% and 43% increases in the likelihood of observing COVID-19 cases 5 days after sample collection (IRR = 1.403, p = 0.002, n = 212 for N; IRR = 1.426, p < 0.001, n = 212 for E). Our findings highlight the use of building-specific occupancy data and add to the evidence for the potential of wastewater-based epidemiology to predict COVID-19 trends at subsewershed scales.

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The impacts of socioeconomic development on rural drinking water safety in China: A provincial-level comparative analysis

Authors:  Li, H., Cohen, A., Li, Z., & Zhang, M.

Publication Year:  2019  |  Journal / Publisher:  Sustainability

JOURNAL PUBLICATION

Abstract/Summary:In China, achieving rural drinking water safety—meaning access to a safe, affordable, sufficient, and sustainable drinking water supply—remains a key challenge for government agencies and researchers. Using cross-sectional data at the provincial level, in this paper we examine the impacts of socioeconomic development on drinking water safety in rural China. Using a theoretical framework called Pressure-State-Response (PSR), existing data were organized into state and pressure indicators. Canonical Correlation Analysis was then used to analyze provincial-level relationships between the indicators. Significant drinking-water-safety-related differences were found across provinces. Our analyses suggest that, overall, China’s recent and rapid socioeconomic development yielded substantial benefits for China’s rural drinking water safety. However, this same development also negatively impacted rural drinking water safety via increased groundwater over-abstraction, reductions in water supply, and environmental contamination. The paper closes with a discussion of implications and options for improving drinking water policy, management, and regulation in rural China.

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The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool: Brochure (& Infographics)

Authors:  IFAD [Cohen, A.]

Publication Year:  2014  |  Journal / Publisher:  United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development

UN REPORTS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Abstract/Summary: The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT) provides data that can inform all levels of decision making by providing a clearer understanding of rural poverty at the household and village level. As a result, MPAT can significantly strengthen the planning, design, monitoring and evaluation of a project, and thereby contribute to rural poverty reduction.

This brochure explains:

    • What MPAT is
    • How MPAT works
    • When to use MPAT and why
    • How to use MPAT
    • What resources are available for implementing MPAT

The tool allows project managers, government officials, researchers and others to identify and monitor sectors that require support in order to reduce rural poverty and improve livelihoods. It also provides an objective means of justifying resource allocation or planning priorities. MPAT is based on a bottom-up, participatory approach that reflects communities’ voices, wants and perspectives.

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The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool: User’s Guide

Authors:  IFAD [Cohen, A. & Jayne, S.]

Publication Year:  2014  |  Journal / Publisher:  United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development

BOOKS/BOOK CHAPTERS

Abstract/Summary: The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT) provides a method for simplifying the complexity of rural poverty in order to support poverty alleviation efforts. MPAT uses thoroughly designed and tested purpose-built surveys to collect data on people’s perceptions about fundamental and interconnected aspects of their lives, livelihoods and environments. Standardized indicators, developed through a comprehensive participatory process, are then employed to combine, distil and present these data in an accessible way. MPAT was developed through a participatory, collaborative process based on expert feedback from dozens of international development experts from IFAD, other United Nations agencies, international and regional organizations, and universities from around the world. It was field-tested in countries in both Asia and Africa. In the pages that follow, we explain what MPAT is, how it works and how it is used, providing step-by-step instructions, training materials and other resources. The ultimate objective of this User’s Guide and the accompanying Excel Spreadsheet is to make MPAT a truly free and open-source tool, so that any institution or agency, big or small, may implement MPAT on its own.

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The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool: Design, development & application of a new framework for measuring rural poverty

Authors:  Cohen, A.

Publication Year:  2009  |  Journal / Publisher:  United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development

BOOKS/BOOK CHAPTERS

Abstract/Summary: The purpose of this book is to describe the theoretical foundations upon which the Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT) was built, to tell the story of how it was created, developed, tested and piloted in rural China and India, and to explain how MPAT can be used to benefit rural communities around the world. Lasting poverty alleviation is achieved by fostering a comprehensive enabling environment within which people have a sufficiently high level of well-being and are able to pursue their livelihood goals based on their aspirations and initiative. To ensure that such environments are in place requires, at a minimum, an understanding of the key constraints rural people face – the fundamental dimensions central to their lives and livelihoods. MPAT does not try to define rural poverty per se; rather it takes a step back from assessment modalities that are overly focused on economic- and consumption-oriented indicators and strives to provide an overview of fundamental and relatively universal dimensions germane to rural livelihoods, rural life, and thus to rural poverty. By summarizing rural communities’ perceptions about key dimensions of rural poverty and focusing them through a quantitative lens, MPAT transparently illuminates problem areas so that all stakeholders can see where deficiencies lie and can begin to discuss which interventions may be most appropriate to address them, based on the local context.

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