Enhancing solids deposit prediction in gully pots with explainable hybrid models: A review.

Urban flooding has made it necessary to gain a better understanding of how well gully pots perform when overwhelmed by solids deposition due to various climatic and anthropogenic variables. This study investigates solids deposition in gully pots through the review of eight models, comprising four deterministic models, two hybrid models, a statistical model, and a conceptual model, representing a wide spectrum of solid depositional processes. Traditional models understand and manage the impact of climatic and anthropogenic variables on solid deposition but they are prone to uncertainties due to inadequate handling of complex and non-linear variables, restricted applicability, inflexibility and data bias. Hybrid models which integrate traditional models with data-driven approaches have proved to improve predictions and guarantee the development of uncertainty-proof models. Despite their effectiveness, hybrid models lack explainability. Hence, this study presents the significance of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) tools in addressing the challenges associated with hybrid models. Finally, crossovers between various models and a representative workflow for the approach to solids deposition modelling in gully pots is suggested. The paper concludes that the application of explainable hybrid modeling can serve as a valuable tool for gully pot management as it can address key limitations present in existing models.

Household water insecurity will complicate the ongoing COVID-19 response: Evidence from 29 sites in 23 low- and middle-income countries.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a set of public guidelines for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention measures that highlighted handwashing, physical distancing, and household cleaning. These health behaviors are severely compromised in parts of the world that lack secure water supplies, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We used empirical data gathered in 2017-2018 from 8,297 households in 29 sites across 23 LMICs to address the potential implications of water insecurity for COVID-19 prevention and response. These data demonstrate how household water insecurity presents many pathways for limiting personal and environmental hygiene, impeding physical distancing and exacerbating existing social and health vulnerabilities that can lead to more severe COVID-19 outcomes. In the four weeks prior to survey implementation, 45.9% of households in our sample either were unable to wash their hands or reported borrowing water from others, which may undermine hygiene and physical distancing. Further, 70.9% of households experienced one or more water-related problems that potentially undermine COVID-19 control strategies or disease treatment, including insufficient water for bathing, laundering, or taking medication; drinking unsafe water; going to sleep thirsty; or having little-to-no drinking water. These findings help identify where water provision is most relevant to managing COVID-19 spread and outcomes.

Water borrowing is consistently practiced globally and is associated with water-related system failures across diverse environments.

Water problems due to scarcity, inaccessibility, or poor quality are a major barrier to household functioning, livelihood, and health globally. Household-to-household water borrowing has been posited as a strategy to alleviate unmet water needs. However, the prevalence and predictors of this practice have not been systematically examined. Therefore, we tested whether water borrowing occurs across diverse global contexts with varying water problems. Second, we tested if household water borrowing is associated with unmet water needs, perceived socio-economic status (SES), and/or water-related system failures, and if water access moderated (or changed) these relationships. Using survey data from the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) study from 21 sites in 19 low- and middle-income countries (n = 5495 households), we found that household-to-household water borrowing was practiced in all 21 sites, with 44.7% (11.4-85.4%) of households borrowing water at least once the previous month. Multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression models demonstrate that high unmet water needs (odds ratio [OR] = 2.86], 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.09-3.91), low perceived SES (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.05-1.13), and water-related system failures (23-258%) were all significantly associated with higher odds of water borrowing. Significant interactions (all p < 0.01) between water access, unmet water needs, and water-related system failures on water borrowing indicate that water access moderates these relationships. These data are the first to demonstrate that borrowing water is commonly used by households around the world to cope with water insecurity. Due to how prevalent water borrowing is, its implications for social dynamics, resource allocation, and health and well-being are likely vast but severely under-recognized.

The role of ecosystems in mitigation and management of Covid-19 and other zoonoses.

There is rising international concern about the zoonotic origins of many global pandemics. Increasing human-animal interactions are perceived as driving factors in pathogen transfer, emphasising the close relationships between human, animal and environmental health. Contemporary livelihood and market patterns tend to degrade ecosystems and their services, driving a cycle of degradation in increasingly tightly linked socio-ecological systems. This contributes to reductions in the natural regulating capacities of ecosystem services to limit disease transfer from animals to humans. It also undermines natural resource availability, compromising measures such as washing and sanitation that may be key to managing subsequent human-to-human disease transmission. Human activities driving this degrading cycle tend to convert beneficial ecosystem services into disservices, exacerbating risks related to zoonotic diseases. Conversely, measures to protect or restore ecosystems constitute investment in foundational capital, enhancing their capacities to provide for greater human security and opportunity. We use the DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State change-Impact-Response) framework to explore three aspects of zoonotic diseases: (1) the significance of disease regulation ecosystem services and their degradation in the emergence of Covid-19 and other zoonotic diseases; and of the protection of natural resources as mitigating contributions to both (2) regulating human-to-human disease transfer; and (3) treatment of disease outbreaks. From this analysis, we identify a set of appropriate response options, recognising the foundational roles of ecosystems and the services they provide in risk management. Zoonotic disease risks are ultimately interlinked with biodiversity crises and water insecurity. The need to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic ongoing at the time of writing creates an opportunity for systemic policy change, placing scientific knowledge of the value and services of ecosystems at the heart of societal concerns as a key foundation for a more secure future. Rapid political responses and unprecedented economic stimuli reacting to the pandemic demonstrate that systemic change is achievable at scale and pace, and is also therefore transferrable to other existential, global-scale threats including climate change and the 'biodiversity crisis'. This also highlights the need for concerted global action, and is also consistent with the duties, and ultimately the self-interests, of developed, donor nations.

Multidimensional Benefits of Improved Sanitation: Evaluating 'PEE POWER®' in Kisoro, Uganda.

With 2.3 billion people around the world lacking adequate sanitation services, attention has turned to alternative service provision models. This study suggests an approach for meeting the sanitation challenge, especially as expressed in Sustainable Development Goal 6.2, using a toilet technology system, such as Pee Power® that generates electricity using diverted urine as a fuel. A field trial was carried out in a girls' school in Kisoro, Uganda, where the generated electricity was used to light the existing toilet block. The trial was evaluated in terms of social acceptability and user experience using a multidimensional assessment protocol. The results of our assessment show that users felt safer when visiting the toilets at night. Lights provided from the technology also helped with the perceived cleanliness of the toilets. The technology was well accepted, with 97% of the respondents saying that they liked the idea of the Pee Power® technology and 94% preferring it over other facilities on site. This shows how the technology helps meet SDG target 6.2, with its particular focus on vulnerable populations.

Corrigendum to "Water borrowing is consistently practiced globally and is associated with water-related system failures across diverse environments" [Global Environ. Change 64 (2020) 102148].

[This corrects the article PMC7566692.].

Cash water expenditures are associated with household water insecurity, food insecurity, and perceived stress in study sites across 20 low- and middle-income countries.

Billions of people globally, living with various degrees of water insecurity, obtain their household and drinking water from diverse sources that can absorb a disproportionate amount of a household's income. In theory, there are income and expenditure thresholds associated with effective mitigation of household water insecurity, but there is little empirical research about these mechanisms and thresholds in low- and middle-income settings. This study used data from 3655 households from 23 water-insecure sites in 20 countries to explore the relationship between cash water expenditures (measured as a Z-score, percent of income, and Z-score of percent of income) and a household water insecurity score, and whether income moderated that relationship. We also assessed whether water expenditures moderated the relationships between water insecurity and both food insecurity and perceived stress. Using tobit mixed effects regression models, we observed a positive association between multiple measures of water expenditures and a household water insecurity score, controlling for demographic characteristics and accounting for clustering within neighborhoods and study sites. The positive relationships between water expenditures and water insecurity persisted even when adjusted for income, while income was independently negatively associated with water insecurity. Water expenditures were also positively associated with food insecurity and perceived stress. These results underscore the complex relationships between water insecurity, food insecurity, and perceived stress and suggest that water infrastructure interventions that increase water costs to households without anti-poverty and income generation interventions will likely exacerbate experiences of household water insecurity, especially for the lowest-income households.

Household water sharing: A review of water gifts, exchanges, and transfers across cultures.

Water sharing offers insight into the everyday and, at times, invisible ties that bind people and households with water and to one another. Water sharing can take many forms, including so-called "pure gifts," balanced exchanges, and negative reciprocity. In this paper, we examine water sharing between households as a culturally-embedded practice that may be both need-based and symbolically meaningful. Drawing on a wide-ranging review of diverse literatures, we describe how households practice water sharing cross-culturally in the context of four livelihood strategies (hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, agricultural, and urban). We then explore how cross-cutting material conditions (risks and costs/benefits, infrastructure and technologies), socio-economic processes (social and political power, water entitlements, ethnicity and gender, territorial sovereignty), and cultural norms (moral economies of water, water ontologies, and religious beliefs) shape water sharing practices. Finally, we identify five new directions for future research on water sharing: conceptualization of water sharing; exploitation and status accumulation through water sharing, biocultural approaches to the health risks and benefits of water sharing, cultural meanings and socio-economic values of waters shared; and water sharing as a way to enact resistance and build alternative economies.

Advancing methods for research on household water insecurity: Studying entitlements and capabilities, socio-cultural dynamics, and political processes, institutions and governance.

Household water insecurity has serious implications for the health, livelihoods and wellbeing of people around the world. Existing methods to assess the state of household water insecurity focus largely on water quality, quantity or adequacy, source or reliability, and affordability. These methods have significant advantages in terms of their simplicity and comparability, but are widely recognized to oversimplify and underestimate the global burden of household water insecurity. In contrast, a broader definition of household water insecurity should include entitlements and human capabilities, sociocultural dynamics, and political institutions and processes. This paper proposes a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods that can be widely adopted across cultural, geographic, and demographic contexts to assess hard-to-measure dimensions of household water insecurity. In doing so, it critically evaluates existing methods for assessing household water insecurity and suggests ways in which methodological innovations advance a broader definition of household water insecurity.