Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) assessments two years after Nepal 2015 earthquake

[MP3-04] Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) assessments two years after Nepal 2015 earthquake

Sital Uprety (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univesity of Illinois and Department of Frontier Science for Advanced Environment, Tohoku University)

Waterborne diseases pose a major threat to human health all over the world causing millions of deaths every year. Low-income countries like Nepal face several problems in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Extreme Natural Events (ENEs) like earthquakes are known to alter human behavior which can lead to an increase in diarrheal diseases. To reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases, it is essential to understand the impact of ENEs on water microbiome and human behavior along with the interaction between water microbiome and human exposure to pathogens. For this purpose, we selected two communities (V1 and V2) completely destroyed during 2015 Nepal Earthquake but one village (V1) was fully recovered by 2017 with people living in permanent houses whereas the other village (V2) was recovering with people living in temporary settlements. A total of 360 water and sanitation samples were collected which were tested for 24 pathogens causing diarrheal diseases. In addition, 50 out of 360 samples were randomly selected and were sequenced for 16S rRNA gene using MiSeq platform. The results indicated a compromised WASH scenario in both villages with Enterococcus spp. being detected in 78% of the samples, Legionella penumphila in 63%, general E. coli in 58% and Salmonella typhimurium in 34% of the samples. In addition, genes of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Giardia lamblia, Enteropathogenic E. coli, Campylobacter jujeni, were also found in 39%, 13%, 7%, and 3% samples respectively. There was no significant difference (p-value = 0.82) in pathogen concentration between V1 and V2. However, investing individual pathogens for different sample types indicated deteriorated sanitation practices in V2 compared to V1. Bray-Curtis analysis showed very different bacterial diversity between water samples, handwash samples and sanitation samples collected in V1 and V2. This study provides a foundation for WASH study in sites affected by ENEs and would help effective WASH intervention activities following any ENEs.