Corrigendum: Handwashing among caregivers of young children in a protracted and complex refugee and immigration context: a mixed methods study on the Thai-Myanmar border

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1099831.].

Handwashing among caregivers of young children in a protracted and complex refugee and immigration context: a mixed methods study on the Thai-Myanmar border

Introduction

Protracted refugee situations create complex contexts that present significant health risks for young children. Effective hand hygiene practices by caregivers can reduce respiratory infections and diarrhoeal disease, the two largest contributors to mortality among children between 1 month and 5 years of age. This study documented handwashing patterns and access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure among caregivers of young children living along the Thai-Myanmar border, one of the world's most protracted and complex refugee and immigration contexts. It also examined the association between handwashing and socio-demographic variables and captured participants' explanations for when and how hands are washed. The study broadened the scope of previous research by also including the large number of caregivers living outside formal camps.

Methods

Caregivers of children attending 11 preschools in Tak province, Thailand participated in a mixed-methods cross-sectional study. Quantitative questionnaire data (n = 384) were supplemented by a thematic analysis of data from in-depth interviews (n = 9).

Results

Fewer than half the caregivers reported routinely washing their hands before preparing meals or after using the latrine/toilet. Fewer than one-in-five routinely used soap in these situations. Interviewees explained that handwashing was only necessary when a substance could be felt or seen, in which case wiping with a cloth or a rinsing with water were sufficient to clean hands. However, their explanations also suggested some potential avenues for culturally appropriate and feasible interventions to improve hand hygiene.

Conclusion

The results confirmed previous research on the multi-dimensional barriers to good hand hygiene in protracted refugee situations and other low-resource settings. Additional investment to overcome shortages in the infrastructure necessary to support good hand hygiene and creative means of drawing on and developing human capital will be necessary to realize the potential hand hygiene holds for reducing ill-health and mortality among young children living in these contexts.

Unravelling capability of municipal wastewater treatment plant in Thailand for microplastics: Effects of seasonality on detection, fate and transport

Many factors can affect microplastics (MPs) behaviors in aquatic environments. The effects of seasonal and meteorological conditions on MPs are not well understood. This study demonstrates the impacts of seasonality on the fate and transport, and the efficacy of MPs removal by a wastewater treatment plant. The fate and transport of MPs at a WWTP in Nonthaburi, Thailand were tracked during the dry and wet seasons of 2019-2020. Polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and toothpaste formulations were the most abundant MP types observed. Total detected MP quantities ranged between 76 and 192 particles L^-1 during the dry season, and only 36-68 particles L^-1 during the wet season, indicating runoff dilution effects. T-test analysis found a statistically significant difference between MP concentrations between the dry and wet seasons of 2019-2020. Spearman's correlation showed statistically strong negative relationships between MP concentrations versus wastewater flow, and MP concentrations versus precipitation; a positive correlation between MP abundance versus temperature in the treatment system was observed. During the dry seasons, MPs were mostly found in the aeration process, and were mostly rayon or polyester particles in the shape of fibers. Contrarily, in the wet seasons, MPs were detected in both the raw influent and aeration process, with PE, polyacrylate, and polyethylene terephthalate fragments dominating the make-up. MPs were also detected in the return activated sludge, thus calling for proper sludge age and drainage management. No MPs were detected in the plant's effluent during the wet season, suggesting that the plant had sufficient MPs removal capability during normal wet-season conditions. Overall, this study suggests that municipalities should focus on increasing MPs removal efficiency of wastewater treatment plants for dry seasons, while properly managing the water flows of combined sewage systems to prevent overflows that may inevitably become point-sources of MPs release into water bodies during wet seasons.

Effect of prolonged sludge retention times on the performance of membrane bioreactor and microbial community for leachate treatment under restricted aeration

Leachate treatment is challenging owing to the complex composition of pollutants. This study investigated the treatment performance of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and the microbial community structure corresponding to the effect of prolonged sludge retention times (SRTs) under restricted aeration. In the present study, a pilot-scale MBR was designed to treat leachate after being pretreated with an anaerobic filter for continuous operation for 240 days. The experimental results showed that removal performance of over 90% was achieved for biochemical oxygen demand, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, and suspended solids when the MBR was operated at SRTs of 150-300 days. The results on microbial communities revealed that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, and Actinobacteria were the major phyla. Furthermore, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria belonging to Nitrosomonadaceae were considered to play a vital role in the ammonia-nitrogen removal. A high abundance of Rhizobiales was detected on the biofilm of the membrane, which could be the key driver of bio-fouling. The dynamic changes in the microbial community indicate steady performance of MBR and can act as an indicator of membrane bio-fouling. The results of our study highlight that MBR can be viably operated in long SRTs under restricted aeration for leachate treatment with technical, economic, and environmental feasibility for resource recovery.

Adsorptive performance of activated carbon reused from household drinking water filter for hexavalent chromium-contaminated water

Powdered activated carbon blocks (PACBs) are waste products obtained from household drinking water purification systems. In this study, we demonstrate that they can be used as adsorbents for the cost-effective and environmentally benign removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from contaminated-water and rinse electroplating wastewater. To evaluate Cr(VI) sorption onto the PACB, studies on equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics were performed using batch mode experiments. The experimental results indicated that Cr(VI) ions were efficiently adsorbed under acidic conditions (i.e., at initial pH below 3) and low initial Cr(VI) concentrations. The adsorptive behaviors of the PACB for Cr(VI) were well explained by the Langmuir isotherm, as well as pseudo-second-order kinetic models, suggesting that a Cr(VI) monolayer was adsorbed onto the PACB surface via chemisorption. The maximum adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) onto the PACB was determined to be 6.207 mg/g. The results of thermodynamic studies revealed that the adsorption process of Cr(VI) onto PACB was endothermic and non-spontaneous. Additionally, analysis of the PACB after Cr(VI) adsorption at an initial pH of 2 using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the interaction between the surface oxygenic functional groups on the PACB and Cr(VI) was primarily responsible for Cr(VI) sorption via surface complexation and electrostatic interactions. Based on the result of XPS analysis, the presence of trivalent chromium on the PACB surfaces indicated that some synergistic redox reactions involving Cr(VI) could have occurred during the sorption process. Although a commercially available powdered activated carbon outperformed the PACB adsorbent with respect to Cr(VI) removal from wastewater, complete Cr(VI) adsorption could be achieved using relatively large quantities of the PACB. These findings indicate that the PACB adsorbent could be used as a cheap and efficient material for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater.

Exposure to Heavy Metals in Electronic Waste Recycling in Thailand

Electronic waste recycling can release heavy metals into the environment and cause adverse health effects. We assessed the association between exposure to heavy metals from electronic waste recycling and the prevalence of asthma in a nested case-control study of 51 subject pairs with and without asthma. House dust, airborne dust, blood, and urine were collected from residents of two neighboring sites in Ubon Ratchathani province, Thailand. Multiple electronic waste-handling activities are conducted in the first site, while the second site is mostly agricultural. Concentrations of chromium, mercury, nickel, and lead in house dust and airborne dust were higher in the electronic waste-handling site (p < 0.05), but levels of exposure were similar in subjects with and without asthma. Although we did not find an association between exposure to these metals and the prevalence of asthma, control measures should be implemented to reduce health risks from long-term exposure to heavy metals.

Performance of dissolved organic matter removal from membrane bioreactor effluent by magnetic powdered activated carbon

Magnetic powdered activated carbon (Mag-PAC) was successfully developed and applied as an adsorbent for dissolved organic matter (DOM) removal from the effluent of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) using batch experiments. The results show that a coating of iron oxide particles is consistently distributed on the surface of powdered activated carbon (PAC), resulting in a decrease in the specific surface area and in the pH at the point of zero charge, even though the particle sizes of Mag-PAC and PAC were similar. A Mag-PAC dosage of 4 g/L exhibited efficient and fast DOM adsorption with a relatively short contact time of 5 min. The iron oxide coating on the surface of PAC may play an important role in the DOM removal efficiency. Temkin isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic models well described the DOM adsorption, suggesting that the adsorption of DOM onto Mag-PAC could be mainly governed by a chemisorption mechanism. Humic acid- and fulvic acid-like compounds and aromatic DOM with molecular weights (MWs) between 2610 Da and 3030 Da were efficiently removed by Mag-PAC, whereas aromatic DOM with an MW of 1760 Da was poorly removed. Our results demonstrate that the application of Mag-PAC for DOM adsorption is attractive and yields benefits as a posttreatment system for MBR effluent due to its efficient and fast DOM adsorption.

Analysis of trihalomethane precursor removal from sub-tropical reservoir waters by a magnetic ion exchange resin using a combined method of chloride concentration variation and surrogate organic molecules

In small reservoirs in tropical islands in Japan, the disinfection by-product formation potential is high due to elevated concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bromide. We employed a combined method of variation of chloride concentrations and the use of DOM surrogates to investigate removal mechanisms of bromide and different fractions of DOM by chloride-based magnetic ion exchange (MIEX®) resin. The DOM in reservoir waters was fractionated by resins based on their hydrophobicity, and characterized by size-exclusion chromatography and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectrophotometry. The hydrophobic acid (HPO acid) fraction was found to be the largest contributor of the trihalomethane (THM) precursors, while hydrophilic acid (HPI acid) was the most reactive precursors of all the four THM species. Bromide and DOM with a molecular weight (MW) greater than 1kDa, representing HPO acid (MW 1-3kDa) and HPI acid (MW 1-2kDa), were effectively removed by MIEX® resin; however, DOM with a MW lower than 1kDa, representing HPI non-acid, was only moderately removed. The removal of THM precursors by MIEX® resin was interfered by high chloride concentrations, which was similar to the removal of glutamic acid (HPI acid surrogate) and bromide. However, elevated chloride concentrations had only a minor effect on tannic acid (HPO acid surrogate) removal, indicating that HPO acid fraction was removed by a combination of ion exchange and physical adsorption on MIEX® resin. Our study demonstrated that the combined use of DOM surrogates and elevated chloride concentrations is an effective method to estimate the removal mechanisms of various DOM fractions by MIEX® resin.

Simultaneous removal of dissolved organic matter and bromide from drinking water source by anion exchange resins for controlling disinfection by-products

Anion exchange resins (AERs) with different properties were evaluated for their ability to remove dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bromide, and to reduce disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potentials of water collected from a eutrophic surface water source in Japan. DOM and bromide were simultaneously removed by all selected AERs in batch adsorption experiments. A polyacrylic magnetic ion exchange resin (MIEX®) showed faster dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal than other AERs because it had the smallest resin bead size. Aromatic DOM fractions with molecular weight larger than 1600 Da and fluorescent organic fractions of fulvic acid- and humic acid-like compounds were efficiently removed by all AERs. Polystyrene AERs were more effective in bromide removal than polyacrylic AERs. This result implied that the properties of AERs, i.e. material and resin size, influenced not only DOM removal but also bromide removal efficiency. MIEX® showed significant chlorinated DBP removal because it had the highest DOC removal within 30 min, whereas polystyrene AERs efficiently removed brominated DBPs, especially brominated trihalomethane species. The results suggested that, depending on source water DOM and bromide concentration, selecting a suitable AER is a key factor in effective control of chlorinated and brominated DBPs in drinking water.