Aguaconsult Uses CBT Kit to Test Rural Village Water Supplies in Myanmar

Aguaconsult is a consulting company based in the UK that serves public, private and third sector organizations to improve the delivery of sustainable basic services for marginalized people in the global south.  www.aguaconsult.co.uk

Challenge

Aguaconsult was selected to perform an assessment of the Accelerating Water and Sanitation for All Program in Myanmar. The program was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK and implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Government of Myanmar. Water quality testing for E. coli bacteria needed to be done in remote villages with little or no access to electricity or a cold chain, and with very limited capacity for traditional membrane filtration water quality tests. Aguaconsult needed a portable water quality test that provides quantitative test results for the Most Probable Number (MPN) of E. coli in a 100 mL water sample.

Solution

Aguaconsult deployed the Compartment Bag Test (CBT) to conduct onsite water quality testing in remote areas of Myanmar. They worked with a local data collection firm, Myanmar Survey Research out of Yangon, to collect and analyze water samples. The CBT Kit verified the quality of the water supplies and together with sanitary inspection surveys, the extent of health risks in each community was determined. Aguaconsult collected samples at the water source, community storage tanks and in a small number of households. This provided an inexpensive snapshot of the overall water quality in each community.

Test Results

CBT test results were obtained after incubating the samples at ambient temperature ≥25° Celsius for about 24 hours. The results highlighted areas that need to be targeted for additional interventions to improve water quality, and/or safe water handling storage practices at the household level.

Conclusion

“The Aquagenx CBT is the best water quality test on the market for this type of study,” says Ryan Schweitzer, Principal Consultant at Aguaconsult. “It’s easy to use, easy to transport and easy to interpret test results. The CBT is ideal for onsite testing in remote areas because it provides reliable results and doesn’t require specialized knowledge or equipment to use. It has a small number of incubation requirements so it’s very flexible in low resource areas.”
“Compared to alternative water quality tests,” concludes Dr. Schweitzer, “the CBT is inexpensive and much more portable.”

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Scoring compartment bag’s color-change test results for MPN of E. coli/100 mL