WORK PERFORMED

The Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
South Africa: The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) based in South Africa is proceeding on schedule and as expected. Approximately 790 children have been recruited into the study and initial measurements of height, weight, disease incidence and microbiological quality of the drinking water have been completed.
Kenya: Approximately 900 children had been recruited into the Kenyan study and initial measurements of height, weight, disease incidence and microbiological quality of the drinking water had completed by the time of the general election in December 2007. The risk to safety for ICROSS personnel in January resulted in all operations being suspended for approximately 4 weeks as a result of post-election civil unrest and lawlessness. Operations have only resumed slowly during March and it is now apparent that as many as, at one point, 300 of the original children had disappeared from the study areas as large portions of the population became displaced. Resumption of monitoring has indicated a steady but slow increase in the numbers of children returning with their families to the study areas and re-participating in the study.

Zimbabwe: The deterioration in the economic situation in Zimbabwe has placed increasing stress on the viability of the study. In the period October 2007 to the end of January 2008 a cohort of 780 children were identified. However civil unrest and continuing difficulties obtaining fuel for transport in the run up to the general election in March led to the decision that operations should be scaled down and perhaps even suspended for the period of February to May. The full impact of these developments will be discussed at the management meeting in South Africa in August 2008 and alternative strategies will be examined. However it is likely that extra time will be required for the HIA beyond the originally scheduled completion date.

The efficacy (at least 3-4 log kill in 4-6 hours) against a range of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses with solar lamp at lab scale was established at lab scale in UL. Significantly enhanced activity of SODIS in conjunction with the photocatalyst riboflavin was observed. In addition viability assays for viruses and other protozoa including Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum and Entamoeba for use with the riboflavin studies have been completed. In the next 6 months UL will continue to extend the range of protozoa and viruses for which SODIS and enhanced SODIS is a suitable process. Dr. Hipolito Gomez (Post Doc Scientist from USC) was working at PSA (July and October 2007) to demonstrate that SODIS is efficient for C. parvum inactivation in 2l-bottles with real water and turbidity. This work will finish in summer 2008 at PSA facilities. SODIS recirculation systems were constructed and tested. The parameters studied were flow rate, irradiated suface, temperature, and total volume. Three parameters were explored to model the disinfection behaviour of C. parvum oocysts in water using SODIS process. Turbidity (5, 100 and 300 NTU) intensity of radiation (200, 600 and 900 W/m2), and exposure (4, 8 and 12 h) at a constant temperature of 30 ºC were selected as appropriate parameters for the experimental study.

WP4 Enhancement Technologies:
Borosilicate glass tubes (30 and 50 mm external diameter, 1.5 meter long) have been coated with TiO2 (Degussa P25) using a custom built automatic dip-coating apparatus constructed at the University of Ulster. Coated glass tubes have been sent to Partner 6 for disinfection trials in real sun (March 2008). Based on experimental results conducted on the continuous flow SODIS reactor in Task 4.1 a batch prototype with CPC was constructed to disinfect 25 litres of water containing 106 CFUL/ml E. coli K-12. This prototype will also be tested with other organisms, e.g. Cryptosporidium oocysts and Bacillus subtilis spores at Parter 6. Photocatalytic Continuous flow SODIS reactor prototype in PSA, Spain.

Work has been ongoing in the development of a photocatalyst enhanced batch reactor. The main approach is to adopt and modify the Sodis bag idea previously reported by EWAG. The final design will be produced in-house, with samples in a range of materials provided to Partner 6 for evaluation under real sun.

A prototype feedback control system has been designed and constructed at Partner 2. Staff from UU travelled to PSA in February 2008 and tested the UV sensors under real sun conditions. The sensor calibration has been modified following these tests and the system will be delivered to Partner 6 in April 2008 for control of Sodis and PC Sodis reactors. All of the deliverables associated with this work-package for this period have been delivered on time.

Intervention phase 1 and 2 are completed. 3 panel interviews are completed with 2400 participants in total (the panel interview for after phase 2 will be conducted in April. Due to political and economic reasons, the pause between intervention phase 1 and 2 was longer than expected. To keep track of changes due to time, one more interview was conducted before intervention phase 2.). A monitoring scheme with 250 participants is set up which was started in October 2007. One diffusion check interview with 1024 participant was done, the next will be done in April. Two papers for publishing are in progress. Potential obstacles: The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe could delay or hinder the project team in their work. It is unclear whether it will stay peaceful. If it is too dangerous for interviewers or promoters to do their work, the intervention phases might be delayed as it already happened with intervention phase 2. This might also delay the report on diffusion and adoption factors.