Your search found 2 records
1 Alemu, T.; Bahrndorff, S.; Hundera, K.; Alemayehu, E.; Ambelu, A.. 2017. Effect of riparian land use on environmental conditions and riparian vegetation in the East African highland streams. Limnologica, 66:1-11. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.limno.2017.07.001]
Riparian zones ; Land use ; Environmental effects ; Water quality ; Farmland ; Riparian vegetation ; Highlands ; Rivers ; Plantations ; Ecosystems ; Chemicophysical properties ; Principal component analysis / East Africa / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048292)
(0.43 MB)
Agricultural land use is expanding and at an accelerated rate. In Ethiopia, most of this expansion has occurred in highland areas and involve deforestation of natural riparian vegetation. However, the impacts on the water quality of streams are poorly understood, especially with regard to the influence of land use patterns on highland streams. In this study, we investigated the effects of land use modifications on the water quality and riparian condition of highland streams and examined whether the preservation of riparian vegetation would help mitigate the negative impacts of intensive agriculture practices. Our results show significant differences in the water quality of streams with different land use. Several parameters commonly used to indicate water quality, such as the concentrations of orthophosphate, turbidity, and suspended solids were significantly higher in the agricultural streams than in the forest stream. The preservation of riparian vegetation in the surrounding highland streams was associated with overall better riparian condition, floristic quality, and water quality such as lower turbidity, total suspended solids, orthophosphate, and higher dissolved oxygen. We conclude, that increases in vegetation cover improved riparian condition and water quality relative to other non-vegetated areas. Therefore, we strongly recommend the preservation of riparian vegetation in tropical highland streams surrounded by intensive agriculture. More studies on the effects of best management practices in areas dominated by agriculture can greatly improve our capacity to prevent the degradation of water quality in tropical highland streams of Africa.
2 Stevenson, E. G. J.; Ambelu, A.; Caruso, B. A.; Tesfaye, Y.; Freeman, M. C. 2016. Community water improvement, household water insecurity, and women’s psychological distress: an intervention and control study in Ethiopia. PLoS ONE, 11(4):1-13. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153432]
Water supply ; Community development ; Water availability ; Households ; Water insecurity ; Gender ; Womans status ; Psychological factors ; Stress ; Socioeconomic environment ; Food insecurity ; Harvesting ; Villages / Ethiopia / Amhara Region / South Wello / South Gondar
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048338)
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153432&type=printable
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H048338.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H048338.pdf
(0.24 MB) (244 KB)
Background
Over 650 million people worldwide lack access to safe water supplies, and even among those who have gained access to ‘improved’ sources, water may be seasonally unreliable, far from homes, expensive, and provide insufficient quantity. Measurement of water access at the level of communities and households remains crude, and better measures of household water insecurity are urgently needed to inform needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation. We set out to assess the validity of a quantitative scale of household water insecurity, and to investigate (1) whether improvements to community water supply reduce water insecurity, (2) whether water interventions affect women’s psychological distress, and (3) the impacts of water insecurity on psychological distress, independent of socio-economic status, food security, and harvest quality.
Methods and Findings
Measures were taken before and one to six months after a community water supply improvement in three villages in rural northern Ethiopia. Villages similar in size and access to water sources and other amenities did not receive interventions, and served as controls. Household water insecurity was assessed using a 21-item scale based on prior qualitative work in Ethiopia. Women’s psychological distress was assessed using the WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). Respondents were either female heads of household or wives of the heads of household (n = 247 at baseline, n = 223 at endline); 123 households provided data at both rounds. The intervention was associated with a decline of approximately 2 points on the water insecurity scale between baseline and endline compared to the control (beta -1.99; 95% CI’s -3.15, -0.84). We did not find evidence of impact of the intervention on women’s psychological distress. Water insecurity was, however, predictive of psychological distress (p <0.01), independent of household food security and the quality of the previous year’s harvest.
Conclusion
These results contribute to the construct validity of our water insecurity scale, and establish our approach to measuring water insecurity as a plausible means of evaluating water interventions. Improvements to community water supplies were effective in reducing household water insecurity, but not psychological distress, in this population. Water insecurity was an important predictor of psychological distress. This study contributes to an emerging literature on quantitative assessment of household water insecurity, and draws attention to the potential impact of improved access to water on women’s mental well-being.
Over 650 million people worldwide lack access to safe water supplies, and even among those who have gained access to ‘improved’ sources, water may be seasonally unreliable, far from homes, expensive, and provide insufficient quantity. Measurement of water access at the level of communities and households remains crude, and better measures of household water insecurity are urgently needed to inform needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation. We set out to assess the validity of a quantitative scale of household water insecurity, and to investigate (1) whether improvements to community water supply reduce water insecurity, (2) whether water interventions affect women’s psychological distress, and (3) the impacts of water insecurity on psychological distress, independent of socio-economic status, food security, and harvest quality.
Methods and Findings
Measures were taken before and one to six months after a community water supply improvement in three villages in rural northern Ethiopia. Villages similar in size and access to water sources and other amenities did not receive interventions, and served as controls. Household water insecurity was assessed using a 21-item scale based on prior qualitative work in Ethiopia. Women’s psychological distress was assessed using the WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). Respondents were either female heads of household or wives of the heads of household (n = 247 at baseline, n = 223 at endline); 123 households provided data at both rounds. The intervention was associated with a decline of approximately 2 points on the water insecurity scale between baseline and endline compared to the control (beta -1.99; 95% CI’s -3.15, -0.84). We did not find evidence of impact of the intervention on women’s psychological distress. Water insecurity was, however, predictive of psychological distress (p <0.01), independent of household food security and the quality of the previous year’s harvest.
Conclusion
These results contribute to the construct validity of our water insecurity scale, and establish our approach to measuring water insecurity as a plausible means of evaluating water interventions. Improvements to community water supplies were effective in reducing household water insecurity, but not psychological distress, in this population. Water insecurity was an important predictor of psychological distress. This study contributes to an emerging literature on quantitative assessment of household water insecurity, and draws attention to the potential impact of improved access to water on women’s mental well-being.
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