Centralized or Onsite Testing? Examining the Costs of Water Quality Monitoring in Rural Africa.

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    • Source:
      Publisher: American Chemical Society Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0213155 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1520-5851 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0013936X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Environ Sci Technol Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Washington DC : American Chemical Society
      Original Publication: Easton, Pa. : American Chemical Society, c1967-
    • Subject Terms:
    • Abstract:
      Rural water systems in Africa have room to improve water quality monitoring. However, the most cost-effective approach for microbial water testing remains uncertain. This study compared the cost per E. coli test (membrane filtration) of four approaches representing different levels of centralization: (i) one centralized laboratory serving all water systems, (ii) a mobile laboratory serving all systems, (iii) multiple semi-centralized laboratories serving clusters of systems, and (iv) decentralized analysis at each system. We employed Monte Carlo analyses to model the costs of these approaches in three real-world contexts in Ghana and Uganda and in hypothetical simulations capturing various conditions across rural Africa. Centralized testing was the lowest cost in two real-world settings and the widest variety of simulations, especially those with water systems close to a central laboratory (<36 km). Semi-centralized testing was the lowest cost in one real-world setting and in simulations with clustered water systems and intermediate sampling frequencies (1-2 monthly samples per system). The mobile lab was the lowest cost in the fewest simulations, requiring few systems and infrequent sampling. Decentralized testing was cost-effective for remote systems and frequent sampling, but only if sampling did not require a dedicated vehicle. Alternative low-cost testing methods could make decentralized testing more competitive.
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: cost modeling; membrane filtration; rural water quality; safely managed water; water quality monitoring; water quality testing
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240614 Date Completed: 20240702 Latest Revision: 20240706
    • Publication Date:
      20240706
    • Accession Number:
      PMC11223485
    • Accession Number:
      10.1021/acs.est.4c01916
    • Accession Number:
      38872464