[en] On 28th July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation, declaring that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to fulfil all human rights. In September 2015, the same assembly announced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in order to “end poverty in all its forms” by the action plan called 2030 Agenda. Goal number 6 aims to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.

[en] Drinking Water Treatments Plants (DWTP) provide safe, high quality drinking water through different unit processes. Designed to comply with legislation requirements, they have to deal with an increasingly changing environment, water qualities, process automation, higher quality standards or new treatments, among others.

[en] Highlights: • The relationship between WSS investment and waterborne diseases (WD) was evaluated • A network-DEA model was used • Brazil was the case study • Marginal products associated with WSS investment were estimated • Universal coverage of WSS in Brazil could mean minimal WD cases Investment in sanitation and drinking water infrastructure is essential for universal access to these services in developing countries. Universal coverage of water and sanitation services (WSS) can prevent the dissemination of waterborne diseases and mitigate their adverse effects. These diseases are responsible for many deaths worldwide, especially among the disadvantaged population and children. A causal effect can be established between WSS investment and hospital admissions due to waterborne diseases. Therefore, we considered an innovative network-DEA approach that models the link between serially connected subsystems (upstream investment and downstream hospitalizations). This approach allowed us: to measure the efficiency of both subsystems; estimate the amount of (efficient) investment necessary to universalize the access to proper WSS infrastructure; and mitigate hospital admissions due to waterborne diseases. We used the Brazil case study to test our model. On average, Brazilian states could increase the number of people not requiring hospitalizations due to waterborne diseases by 157 thousand per R$100 million invested in sanitation and 26 thousand per R$100 million invested in drinking water. Our results suggest that relatively small (efficient) investment in those two infrastructure types has a massive impact on hospitalizations. This impact would be more significant than the investment in WSS coverage. Therefore, if safely managed, WSS would cover all citizens, and Brazil would come closer to developed countries.

[en] Drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) need to produce water under specific quality regulations. It is well known that natural organic matter (NOM) represents the most challenging factor that affects processes optimization.

[en] The radon concentration has been measured in 44 drinking water resources, in villages nearby Lalehzar fault in winter 2014. Some samples showed a higher concentration of radon surpassing limit set by EPA. Further, a sample was taken from water distribution networks for these sources of water. Soluble radon concentration was measured by RAD7 device. Range radon concentration was 26.88 and 0.74 BqL^-1 respectively. The maximum and minimum annual effective dose for adults was estimated at 52.7 and 2.29 µSvY^-1, respectively. Reducing radon from water before use is recommended to improve public health. (author)

[en] This study focuses on making equipment which is useful to process paddy water to be consumable as drinking water by using ozone-UVC and ultrafiltration. The equipment which is made by the process of ozone-UVC and ultrafiltration or reverse osmosis is driven by electric power generated from solar panels. In the experiment, reverse osmosis system with ozone-UVC reactor proves to be good enough in producing high quality drinking water. (paper)

[en] Mauritania, located in the southwestern Sahara in northwestern Africa, is about 1.04 million square km in size. The country has 592 km of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Mauritania is predominantly desert, and much of the country receives less than 300 mm per year of rainfall. For supply water, the country highly depends on surface water in the south from the Senegal River, which is shared by Guinea, Mali and Senegal, or on the utilization of groundwater. In the capital Nouakchott, where one quarter of the country's population lives, daily water delivery is about 50 000 m³, far below the estimated base line of 95 000 m³ (FAO, 2002). The available surface water is irregular in quantity and the quality is under threat since groundwater is suspected to be affected by pollution and salt intrusion. The supply of potable water is thus one of the priorities for economic and social development in the country

[en] Our modern, globalised world presents us an uneven picture regarding access to and efficient use of water. Even as the global trend towards water scarcity is shared by both hemispheres alike, the rich west remains fundamentally well supplied, its access to clean water all but guaranteed.

No abstract available

[en] The digital transformation and the application of tools based on Internet of Thing (IoT), Big Data and Data Analytics have had a significant impact upon all the industrial sectors, including the water industry overall and the hydraulic modeling of the water supply systems in particular. The deployment of these new technologies adds an extra step to the hydraulic models and simulations in terms of accuracy and reality approximation. They become a more practical and efficient component for the management of drinking water networks.