Prioritisation of catchment management in the Sydney catchment - construction of a pathogen budget

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.M. Ferguson ◽  
N.J. Ashbolt ◽  
D.A. Deere
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Catchment Management ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Infectious Pathogen ◽  
Utility Managers ◽  
Great Relative Importance

A methodology has been developed to apply the materials budget concept, used in sediment and nutrient studies, to construct a pathogen budget for drinking water catchments, taking into consideration pathogen origin, deposition, inactivation and movement within a catchment. These processes can be described in terms of stocks (pathogens) and flows (movement of stocks). In south-eastern Australia, the majority of pathogen loading to major tributaries was predicted to occur during and after high intensity rainfall events where in-stream resuspension was not of great relative importance. In contrast, during dry weather the transit time within the studied catchment was sufficiently long that in-stream processes became relatively important. Total pathogen unit (TPU) budgets were constructed for the parasitic protozoa Cryptosporidium and Giardia. This approach enables water utility managers to identify those catchment segments and processes that are contributing or removing the greatest load of pathogens, and thus where management options will be most effective. With improved knowledge of pathogen ecology this approach can be further refined to provide budgets of infectious pathogen units (IPU), more directed to public health risk endpoints.

A deterministic model to quantify pathogen loads in drinking water catchments: pathogen budget for the Wingecarribee

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 191-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.M. Ferguson ◽  
B. Croke ◽  
N.J. Ashbolt ◽  
D.A. Deere
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Deterministic Model ◽  
Fate And Transport ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Utility Managers ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Water Catchments

This paper describes the development and testing of a mathematical model as a tool to quantify pathogen loads in Sydney's drinking water catchments. It has been used to identify, quantify and prioritise sources of Cryptosporidium, Giardia and E. coli in the Wingecarribee catchment. The pathogen model promotes understanding of the relative significance of different sources of pathogen risks as well as their fate and transport as they move through the subcatchments. This pathogen model not only enables water utility managers to identify those catchment segments that may contribute the highest load of pathogens, but also where management options will be most effective.

scholarly journals The relative importance of work-related and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support on global perceived stress in a cross-sectional population-based sample

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jes Bak Sørensen ◽  
Mathias Lasgaard ◽  
Morten Vejs Willert ◽  
Finn Breinholt Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Work Situation ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Related Stressors

Abstract Background High levels of perceived stress have a negative bearing on health and well-being, and stress is a major public health issue. According to the Stress Process Model, stressors are socially patterned and combine to produce strain. Despite this, most studies on stress have focused on work-related stressors leaving non-work determinants under-investigated. The aim of the present study was to determine the relative importance of work-related and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support for the overall perceived stress level. Methods Self-reported data were drawn from the 2017 population-based health survey “How are you?” conducted in the Central Denmark Region (N = 32,417). Data were linked with data drawn from national administrative registers. Work- and non-work-related stressors assessed included major life events, chronic stressors and daily hassles. Perceived social support was assessed using a single question. Overall perceived stress was assessed by the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. We conducted dominance analyses based on a multiple linear regression model to determine the most important explanatory variables of overall perceived stress. Analyses were weighted and adjusted. Results Work- and non-work-related stressors along with perceived social support explained 42.5% of the total variance (R2) in overall perceived stress. The most important explanatory variables were disease, perceived social support and work situation. The stratified analyses produced slightly varying results (“dominance profiles”) of perceived stress between subgroups. Work situation was the most important explanatory variable in the employed group. However, adding non-work-related explanatory variables to the analysis tripled the explained variance. Conclusions The overall level of perceived stress can be statistically explained by a combination of work- and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support both at population level and in subgroups. The most important explanatory variables of overall perceived stress are disease, perceived social support and work situation. Results indicate that public health strategies aiming to reduce stress should take a comprehensive approach and address a variety of stressor domains rather than focus on a single domain. Trial registration The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (r. no. 2012-58-0006) and registered in the Central Denmark Region (r. no. 1-16-02-593-16).

Assessment of Household Disposal of Pharmaceuticals in Lebanon: Management Options to Protect Water Quality and Public Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
May A. Massoud ◽  
Ghida Chami ◽  
Mahmoud Al-Hindi ◽  
Ibrahim Alameddine
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Management Options

Marketing urban water services: information needs for water utility managers in developing countries

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
J. Mugabi ◽  
C. Njiru
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Generic Model ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Customer Information ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
Utility Managers

A decade ago the ‘Dublin Principles’ shifted global thinking towards treating water as an economic good. The concern was that overly supply-driven approaches had been financially unsustainable, and therefore failed to reduce the service gap. Accompanying this conceptual shift has been a wider move towards focusing on the customer's needs and preferences and their willingness to pay, and applying marketing techniques to meet those needs in a financially sustainable manner. Although regarded as a positive move, its success is heavily dependent on how well water utilities understand their customers. This paper examines existing literature on the determinants of customer willingness to use and pay for improved water services in developing countries. The contribution of past research to our understanding of the behaviour of customers, with regard to service level choice and payment for services, is critically analysed. Basing on this analysis, we develop and discuss a generic model of a water consumer's decision-making process. The model serves two purposes. First, it consolidates past research into a coherent framework to facilitate implementation of the marketing approach. Secondly, we use the model to identify critical customer information that water utility managers need to know in order to be customer-focused.

Neighborhood socioeconomics, food environment and land use determinants of public health: Isolating the relative importance for essential policy insights

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 246-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhou ◽  
Shukui Tan ◽  
Yinghui Tao ◽  
Yongzhong Lu ◽  
Zuo Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Relative Importance

Sustainable grazing systems for the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. 1. Agronomic implications of vegetation - environment associations within a naturalised temperate perennial grassland

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. McG. King ◽  
P. M. Dowling ◽  
D. L. Michalk ◽  
D. R. Kemp ◽  
G. D. Millar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Acid Soils ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Trifolium Subterraneum ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Winter Annual

Temperate perennial grass-based pastures dominate the high rainfall zone of south-eastern Australia and support a major livestock production industry. This area has experienced a recent change in overall pasture condition, however, typified by a reduction in the abundance of perennial grasses and an increasingly prominent winter-annual grass weed component. Improving the condition and productivity of these pastures can be achieved by improved management but this requires better knowledge of the interactions between management options and pasture species composition and of the interaction between pasture vegetation and the complex effects of a heterogeneous landscape. This paper reports the results of an intensive survey of a 60-ha paddock that was designed to identify the species present, determine their patterns of distribution and examine the relationships between pasture vegetation and the environment. The survey of species present in late summer was supplemented by the identification of seedlings that later emerged from extracted soil cores and by soil physical and chemical analyses. Data were analysed using ordination and interpreted with GIS software so that topographic features could be considered. The most frequently identified taxa were Hypochaeris radicata, Austrodanthonia spp. and Bothriochloa spp. (in late summer) and Vulpia spp., Bromus molliformis and Trifolium subterraneum (winter-annual species). Austrodanthonia spp. were commonly found on the drier ridges and more acid soils with lower phosphate levels. These were also the areas dominated in spring by Vulpia spp. and were generally lower in plant species richness overall. The most species-rich areas occurred downslope where soil fertility was higher and less moisture stress was presumably experienced. The measured environmental factors explained a substantial proportion of the variation in the vegetation dataset, which underlined the importance of considering landscape effects in the management of typical tablelands pastures.

Electromagnetic induction sensing of soil identifies constraints to the crop yields of north-eastern Australia

Soil Research ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. P. Dang ◽  
R. C. Dalal ◽  
M. J. Pringle ◽  
A. J. W. Biggs ◽  
S. Darr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Electromagnetic Induction ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Yield Potential ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Soil Constraints ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
On Farm

Salinity, sodicity, acidity, and phytotoxic concentrations of chloride (Cl–) in soil are major constraints to crop production in many soils of north-eastern Australia. Soil constraints vary both spatially across the landscape and vertically within the soil profile. Identification of the spatial variability of these constraints will allow farmers to tune management to the potential of the land, which will, in turn, bring economic benefit. For three cropping fields in Australia’s northern grains region, we used electromagnetic induction with an EM38, which measures apparent electrical conductivity of the soil (ECa) and soil sampling to identify potential management classes. Soil Cl– and soluble Na+ concentrations, EC of the saturated extract (ECse), and soil moisture were the principal determinants of the variation of ECa, measured both at the drained upper limit of moisture (UL) and at the lower limit (LL) of moisture extracted by the crop. Grain yield showed a strong negative relation with ECa at both UL and LL, although it was stronger for the latter. We arrive at a framework to estimate the monetary value of site-specific management options, through: (i) identification of potential management classes formed from ECa at LL; (ii) measurement of soil attributes generally associated with soil constraints in the region; (iii) grain yield monitoring; and (iv) simple on-farm experiments. Simple on-farm experiments suggested that, for constrained areas, matching fertiliser application to realistic yield potential, coupled to gypsum amelioration, could potentially benefit growers by AU$14–46/ha.year (fertiliser) and $207/ha.3 years (gypsum).

scholarly journals A Century of Change towards Prevention and Minimal Intervention in Cariology

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.P.T. Innes ◽  
C.H. Chu ◽  
M. Fontana ◽  
E.C.M. Lo ◽  
W.M. Thomson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Dental Caries ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Surgical Specialty ◽  
Minimal Intervention

Better understanding of dental caries and other oral conditions has guided new strategies to prevent disease and manage its consequences at individual and public health levels. This article discusses advances in prevention and minimal intervention dentistry over the last century by focusing on some milestones within scientific, clinical, and public health arenas, mainly in cariology but also beyond, highlighting current understanding and evidence with future prospects. Dentistry was initially established as a surgical specialty. Dental caries (similar to periodontitis) was considered to be an infectious disease 100 years ago. Its ubiquitous presence and rampant nature—coupled with limited diagnostic tools and therapeutic treatment options—meant that these dental diseases were managed mainly by excising affected tissue. The understanding of the diseases and a change in their prevalence, extent, and severity, with evolutions in operative techniques, technologies, and materials, have enabled a shift from surgical to preventive and minimal intervention dentistry approaches. Future challenges to embrace include continuing the dental profession’s move toward a more patient-centered, evidence-based, less invasive management of these diseases, focused on promoting and maintaining oral health in partnership with patients. In parallel, public health needs to continue to, for example, tackle social inequalities in dental health, develop better preventive and management options for existing disease risk groups (e.g., the growing aging population), and the development of reimbursement and health outcome models that facilitate implementation of these evolving strategies. A century ago, almost every treatment involved injections, a drill or scalpel, or a pair of forceps. Today, dentists have more options than ever before available to them. These are supported by evidence, have a minimal intervention focus, and result in better outcomes for patients. The profession’s greatest challenge is moving this evidence into practice.

Autonomy matters: Insights from U.S. water utility managers on governance structure

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. e1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Biddle ◽  
Karen J. Baehler
Keyword(s):  
Governance Structure ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Utility Managers
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