Description of Village Water Scenarios

Awuju Village

Main Occupation: Farming and Herding

Annual per capita income: 28-42 USD

This is one of the three poorest villages in the township

5% adult literacy

Villagers suffer from scarring and discoloration of the faces, hands, and feet which they attribute to their drinking water. In addition, villagers believe that their water source is responsible for diarrhea and digestive system ailments. Women, children, and the elderly appear most susceptible to dermatological manifestations.

We hypothesized that the skin problems were due to metal contamination and that diarrhea was linked to bacteria and cysts. However, although the river is highly contaminated by animal feces, it has not been used as a drinking water source since Lerjiater, a respected village member and experienced development worker, installed running water in 2006. Now, water is piped from an underground mountain spring straight to household taps.

Natural desorption processes is a possible source of metal contamination for the underground spring. In addition, villagers use poisons - a potential source of arsenic - to kill rats. The resulting carcasses are sometimes found in the river or are eaten by pigs which the villagers slaughter for food.

We are currently analyzing water samples from both the tap and river via cryptosporidium DNA assay and element ICPMS analysis.

Zhengga Village

Main Occupation: Farming and Herding

Prior to 2002: Villagers drank water from the local river. However, the path to the river source 3 km away was steep and dangerous. Women and children were often hurt going to and from the river carrying water barrels. Large amounts of silt caused by erosion from irrigation channels gave the water a murky characteristic. In addition, the river often contained animal feces since the livestock also drank from it. While drinking river water, villagers suffered from high rates of tuberculosis, kidney stones, appendix disorders, diarrhea, and heart attacks which they blamed on the water source.

2002: The local government installed gravity-feed pipes from a spring 1.5 km up the mountain in order to supply running water to the village. Villagers’ health improved. Tuberculosis, diarrhea, and heart attacks declined significantly.

2003-2006: In 2003, the spring yielded no water in the winter time and the villagers returned to drinking water from the river. As time progressed, the spring became dry year-round and villagers saw a recurrence of the high disease rates present prior to 2002. Some villagers dug wells, but the water was too salty to be drinkable. Women were forced to spend many hours of the day going back and forth from the river (2 trips in winter, 3 trips in summer). Under these conditions, it was difficult for the villagers to irrigate their fields and household incomes declined as a result. Families kept their daughters from attending school so that they could help fetch water. Sons were sometimes retained as well. This resulted in a Zhengga Village becoming the subject of several jokes about poor education told in other villages in the township.

2007: In September, Lerjiater, a well respected Awuju Villager experienced in development work, completed a new running water project which used gravity-feed pipes to deliver water to the village from a spring 3 km away. This is the current water source for the village and the villagers feel that their health has improved since the completion of the project.

Source Descriptions:

1. River Source: Fast flowing, little turbidity, relatively shallow in the area from which water samples were taken, ice on edges near shore. Very dry soil conditions. Animals present.
2. Tap Water (Spring Source): Little to no sediment when exiting tap. Both metal and plastic piping were employed. The specific chemical identity of the piping is unknown.

XiaKeBa Village

Primary Occupation: Farming

About half the villagers have running water (those who can afford it). The other villagers collect water from the river, a half hour walk from the village. Villagers own few animals and make most of their living off of agriculture. Stomach aches and diarrhea are common childhood illnesses.

In the winter, the top 30 cm of the river is frozen and villagers draw water through a hole in the ice. Water seeps into the hole slowly accompanied by a large quantity of sediment. During summer, the river is slow-moving and shallow. In the fall, it sometimes completely dries up.

Quma Village

Primary Occupation: Farming and Herding

Quma is an agrarian village. Its inhabitants own many animals which remain in Quma throughout the year rather than migrating to seasonal pastures. In the morning, villagers herd their animals (yaks, cows, donkey, and goats) to the stationary pasture lands beside the river. These animals drink from the river and defecate along side it inside the boundaries of the summer flood plain. Trash is ubiquitous in this flood plain area and frozen in the water of the tributaries. The foothills through which the river runs are plagued by high levels of erosion. Quma is 3 km downstream of TongRen, a city with a population of 77,040 people.

Summary of Bacterial Contamination

Village river sources contained levels of E. coli and coliform which exceeded the maximum exposure level (MEL) for drinking water but which were well below the MEL for bathing.

There was no statistically significant presence of these bacteria in water piped from mountain springs or in boiled water.

Conclusions

1. River water in the sample villages is safe for bathing but not for drinking.
2. Parents should caution their children against drinking unboiled water.
3. Running water projects that pipe water from mountain springs have succeeded in providing bacteria-free water to villagers. Future such projects are likely to produce similar results.

Current Work

Our affiliates at the Lehigh University Fritz Engineering Laboratory, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Wellesley College Geochemistry Laboratories are currently analyzing water samples from these villages from Cryptosporidium parvum and heavy metals.