The essential sanitation of tropical mountain villages

Scientific result

4 June 2024

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

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