GRF 2nd One Health Summit 2013: Presentation by Gueladio Cisse, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland

1. Plenary III: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Wastewater, Ecosystems and Health: Risks
and Opportunities
Guéladio Cissé
Research Group Leader
“Ecosystem services, Climate and Health”
Ecosystem Health Sciences Unit
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland

2. One Health
Well covered:
• Human Health
• Animal Health
• Food Safety and
Security
Weak up to now:
•Environmental
Health
• WASH
• Sanitation
• Wastewater
Source. GRF webpage

3. SANITATION - Global Situation – Africa
2010
Source: AMCOW 2012

4. SANITATION - Global Situation – Africa
2010
Source: AMCOW 2012

5. WASH and Health
• 88% of diarrhoeal disease is due to
unsafe water supply, inadequate
sanitation and hygiene
• WASH interventions can lead to a
reduction of diarrhoeal cases by up
to 45 %
• Better management of water
resources and wastes will reduce a
number of diseases

6. Effect on diarrhoea of WASH
interventions
6

7. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Wastewater
7

8. Wide range of wastewater sources
Wastewater
Used water of different qualities ranging from raw to
diluted; usually a combination of one or more of the
following (Scott et al 2004):
1. Domestic effluent consisting of blackwater (excreta;
urine;) and grey water (kitchen and bathing
wastewater)
2. Water from commercial establishments and
institutions including hospitals
3. Industrial effluents where present
4. Storm water and other urban run-off
Diversity
Complexity

9. Water … Wastewater
Need more attention than before
• Waste (liquid and solid) production in
general on rise
• More Water Supplied and Used: More
Wastewater to handle
9

10. Urban water - withdrawal and
pollution discharge
Agriculture
Domestic
Industry
10

11. 2- Opportunity
Water scarcity --- reuse
Water availability in
decline, while
agriculture accounts
for more than 70% of
global water use
By 2025, half of the world
population will live in
water stressed areas,
which makes reuse
important

12. Waste management options
Reduce: reduce the
amount
Reuse : someone’s
waste used else
Recycle: use in
another way or
process
Recover: handle, keep,
clean, transform,
improve, return to
the economy
Many other R's: reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, repair, rethink …
•Repair: take old and little defected things and repair them
•Rethink: environmentally sound management of waste
(Source: WB 2012)

13. Waste management options
Worldwide, the new environmental paradigm is to
eliminate the concept of throwing away waste and
replace it with the concept of considering waste as a
resource
Focus on “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” paradigm
Considers both solid waste and wastewater
-Solid waste
-Wastewater
-Feacal sludge

14. Wastewater --- opportunity
●
An approximate estimate of global wastewater
production is 1,500 km3 per day
●
Recycling wastewater for peri-urban agriculture
already happens around 4 of 5 cities across the
developing world
●
Wastewater is estimated to directly or indirectly
irrigate about 20 million hectares of land globally—
almost 7% of total irrigated areas
“Wastewater: tomorrow a resource rather than a problem
- Rationale for a shift in thinking” (Malin Falkenmark)
Source: UN World Water Development Report 2003; Malin Falkenmark 2011; Pay Drechsel 2010

15. 3- Risks
Wastewater --- Health Risks
• Major wastewater related diseases
(Diarrhoea, Typhoid, Schistosomiasis,
Ascariasis, Hookworm disease, Lymphatic
filariasis, Hepatitis A)
• Vector-borne diseases of relevance to
wastewater use (Dengue, Filariasis,
Japanese encephalitis, Malaria)
• Survival of various organisms (Viruses,
Bacteria, Protozoan cysts, Helminths)

16. Ecosystems Health Risks
•Wastewater from industries is on rise!
• Global annual water use by industry is
expected to rise from an estimated 725 km3 in
1995 to about 1,170 km3 by 2025,by which
time industrial water usage will represent 24%
of all water abstractions
•Many wastewater flows from land end up at
freshwater bodies (rivers, oceans, lagoons,
lakes)
• This will particularly impact on aquatic
ecosystems receiving wastewater from
industries
Source: UN World Water Development Report 2003

17. Ecosystems Health Risks
Low ratio of wastewater treatment in developing countries
> 80-90% of urban wastewater improperly discharged or insufficiently
treated
Complex chemical and industrial pollutions …. Impact on ecosystems
Source: Corcoran et al 2010

18. 4- Challenges
Climate, Extreme events,
Disasters
Number of disasters
increasing
Increasing
occurrence of floods
among climate
extreme events
related disasters
18 November 2013
18

19. Climate, Extreme events, Disasters
2013 !!!
Nouakchott
Climate extreme events: floods
in Nouakchott (Mauritania)
2009 !!!
Ouagadougou
Climate extreme events: floods
in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Contexts of predominant very simple traditional excreta disposal facilities
(latrines), non disposed solid waste, non treated wastewater in streets, and
traditional sources of water (like unprotected wells)
Threat on water quality and consequently on health
Credit photos: Noor Info, IRD

20. What needs to be done
Support Initiatives
on
WASTEWATER, ECOSYSTEMS,
and HEALTH
Particular focus on
Urban and Rural Interfaces

21. What needs to be done
International, National, Local
Policy, Technology, Economy, Finance
Behavioral change, Partnership
Bottom up
Research
Local governance actors
approaches
Ecohealth Approach
One Health
Action
Dialogue
Policy Makers, Leadership
Gender

22. Conclusion
• A big number of human health problems result
from degraded ecosystems, and poorly managed
environments
• Increased contamination of ecosystems by
waste and discharges from industry and
transport, as well as from household and human
waste
• Climate variability and change, extreme events:
will exacerbate the health challenges, will lead to
more and more disasters
• Human health, Animal Health and the Health of
Ecosystems need to be improved together
• Ecohealth and One Health Actors to consider and
do more on wastewater
18 November 2013

23. Thank you very much
for your attention
gueladio.cisse@unibas.ch