Humanitarian Water

An estimated 140 million people across 70 countries are drinking water containing levels of Arsenic above the World Health Organisation guidelines. Arsenic ingestion causes skin lesions, developmental effects, diabetes, pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Palintest’s Kemio Arsenic system is a unique sensor based test method, that is small, portable, simple to use and provides a result for concentration of Arsenic within a 2-3 minutes. This access to an immediate result at the site of a drinking water supply is invaluable in identifying and affected water sources and removing them from use.

The World Health Organisation(WHO) set a maximum limit of 11.3 mg/L (N) because nitrate can reduce the blood’s ability to transport oxygen, causing a condition called methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome). Chronic exposure may also affect thyroid function.

In the Humanitarian sector, mitigation involves improvements to the planning of land use, agricultural practices, and wastewater management to reduce nitrate pollution. The importance of water quality monitoring to detect nitrate contamination is emphasised by Unicef. Palintest offer a simple photometric or visual test method for nitrate in drinking water. This is included in many of Palintest’s Humanitarian kits.

Electrochemical pH instruments provide an instant result and can be used multiple times without any sample preparation or additional cost in reagents. This makes pH measurement extremely useful as a check of whether something in a drinking water source has changed which could indicate potential contamination. This aids decision making in emergencies and can indicate where further investigation of a water supply may be needed.

In addition, pH affects the survival of waterborne diseases. For example, cholera thrives in alkaline conditions while other pathogens prefer acidic or neutral ranges. pH also affects the solubility of heavy metals and other chemicals affecting potential toxicity of water.

Palintest’s humanitarian kits offer pH testing via an electrochemical meter in all but one model of kit.

As a subgroup, thermotolerant coliforms, also referred to as fecal coliforms, are particularly useful as an indicator of fecal contamination. They are present in large numbers in human and animal feces, making them easier to detect. They persist and remain viable in natural water, but they do not multiply there. Total coliforms by contrast will also include those organisms that can live entirely in the natural environment. Detecting Total Coliforms indicates potential contamination from a wider spectrum of potential sources.

Coliform numbers will reduce significantly in response to disinfection and other water treatment process. This makes them extremely useful as a surveillance test to monitor the ongoing effectiveness of any water treatment and mitigation measures.

A number of Palintest’s humanitarian kits include a complete suite of microbiological equipment for filtering, culture and enumeration of Total Coliforms and Thermotolerant Coliforms

Sometimes this measurement is referred to as TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) or it may even be referred to us Salinity. These are all fundamentally measurements of the same thing, but are just reporting the result in different units for convenience.

In the humanitarian applications conductivity serves as a useful quick indication of water quality. By regularly monitoring conductivity any change caused by pollution or mixing of water sources will be detected. Particularly useful for a warning of ingress by seawater.

Conductivity can also be useful for monitoring any disinfection process, when a sudden drop in conductivity could indicate a failure of dosing equipment.

Since it is such a useful reassurance and early warning indicator. The vast majority of Palintest’s humanitarian kits include a ‘easy to use’ electrochemical meter that can measure conductivity.

In humanitarian work, ammonia is therefore important to monitor as an indicator of pollution and potential cross contamination of drinking water and waste streams.

Whilst excessive ammonia exposure can lead to health issues, ammonia is more critical as an environmental pollutant. Ammonia is harmful to aquatic life and can damage fish stocks in rivers and endanger food supplies.

Ammonia is also an important factor in the effectiveness of water disinfection treatment processes. It reacts with chlorine to form chloramines and this severely reduces the effectiveness of the disinfection process. Some disinfection byproducts from chlorine reacting with organic material can be a hazard to health. Palintest offer a simple tablet based photometric or visual test method for ammonia in water and this is included in several of our humanitarian kits.

Within the humanitarian sector, turbidity is an extremely useful indicator providing valuable information quickly and relatively cheaply. Whilst turbidity itself does not always represent a direct risk to health, it can indicate the presence of pathogenic organisms or inorganic particles that have pathogens attached to them. Rapid changes in turbidity can act as a warning of a pollution event, or cross contamination from a wastewater stream.

Turbidity measurements can also be extremely useful in monitoring control measures such as coagulation, clarification, filtration, disinfection, and distribution system management. It is commonly used as a control measure and included in water safety plans (WSPs).

Palintest include an advanced Turbidity instrument in many of our humanitarian kits. Some kits opt for a lower cost visual test for turbidity.

Nitrate is also present as a result human activities such as agriculture, industry and sewage discharge. The World Health Organisation(WHO) set a maximum limit of 11.3 mg/L (N) because nitrate can reduce the blood’s ability to transport oxygen, causing a condition called methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome). Chronic exposure may also affect thyroid function.

In the Humanitarian sector, mitigation involves improvements to the planning of land use, agricultural practices, and wastewater management to reduce nitrate pollution. The importance of water quality monitoring to detect nitrate contamination is emphasised by Unicef. Palintest offer a simple photometric or visual test method for nitrate in drinking water. This is included in many of Palintest’s Humanitarian kits.