The essential sanitation of tropical mountain villages

Tropical mountain villages without sanitation pollute the hydrosystems very heavily. The work of scientists from the Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET/OMP) laboratory and their partners in France and Laos, carried out in South-East Asia, highlights the significant fecal contamination coming from these small rural towns at the time of floods or rains: there are then 1,000 times more pathogenic germs drained towards the hydrosystems located downstream from the villages, than in the others.

Read more in IRD le Mag’ (in French)

Contacts GET: Laurie Boithias and Inpeng Saveng

Olivier Blot, journalist IRD-DCPI

Sources :

Village Settlements in Mountainous Tropical Areas, Hotspots of Fecal Contamination as Evidenced by Escherichia coli and Stanol Concentrations in Stormwater Pulses, Laurie Boithias, Emilie Jardé, Keooudone Latsachack, Chanthanousone Thammahacksa, Norbert Silvera, Bounsamay Soulileuth, Mose Xayyalart, Marion Viguier, Alain Pierret, Emma Rochelle-Newall & Olivier Ribolzi., Environnemental Science & Technology, 2024. DOI : 10.1021/acs.est.3c09090

More news

Unprecedented mineral and organic compounds discovered in Mars’ Jezero Crater

The Perseverance rover has uncovered sedimentary rocks containing minerals and organic matter organized into structures never before seen on Mars, opening up new perspectives on the Red Planet’s past habitability. […]

Climate warning for archaeological sites

From the Chauvet cave to the Ile d’Yeu, prehistoric sites are under close surveillance. The hope: to understand how climate change threatens them. And prevent the disappearance of cave paintings. […]

The origins of continents: continental crust shaped by water

ow did continents appear on Earth? This question, crucial to understanding the emergence of civilizations and life itself, remains one of the great mysteries of the early stages of planetary […]

Search