Rachel Boyer

Topic

Quantifying Waterborne Microbial Risks in Low-Resource Settings: A Synthesis of Barriers and Opportunities

Department of Civil Engineering

Date & location

• Thursday, September 5, 2024
• 7:00 A.M.
• Virtual Defence

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Caetano Dorea, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)
• Dr. Sara Marks, Department of Civil Engineering, UVic (Co-Supervisor)

External Examiner

• Dr. Christoph Lüthi, Department of Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development,
  Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Sara Ellison, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UVic

Abstract

Over 2 billion individuals globally lack access to safe, readily available and sustainable drinking water. This burden is not evenly distributed, but instead is concentrated amongst the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations. Microbial water quality monitoring has an essential role in the delivery of safe drinking water and the protection of public health from waterborne illnesses. However, collecting such data is a significant undertaking, particularly in contexts without access to well-resourced laboratories. This has led to the development of numerous “field” or “standalone” kits and methods, intended for “low-resource contexts.” Despite the significant advancement in this area, two key challenges persist. First, many methods are not suitable for all contexts due to having high resource requirements. Second, there is a lack of understanding of how these methods are completed in practice, compared to how associated standards and recommendations dictate, because of resource-related barriers. The overall aim of this thesis was to address both challenges by evaluating and improving microbial water quality monitoring methods aimed at low-resource contexts. In response to the first challenge, a novel microbial water quality testing kit was validated. It was found that the kit, particularly the incubator, is a promising low-cost and low-power option for the detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in drinking water. Further, a liquid alcohol-based protocol resulted in the successful decontamination of the membrane filtration method. To address the second challenge, semi structured interviews were conducted to synthesize adaptions to standard methods, relevant challenges, and opportunities for resource streamlining. This resulted in the synthesis of 58 adaptions. Analysis further included the use of theoretical thematic analysis to develop 9 categories that describe the motivations behind the adaption of standard methods for specific contexts. Overall, this thesis contributes to the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene sector by providing a better understanding of the contexts that microbial water quality monitoring methods are used in, identifies opportunity for more efficient resource use, and synthesizes relevant research gaps.