Patience Sihwa is a PhD researcher with the SPRINGS project, focused on evaluating environmental risk factors that contribute to pathogen exposure from drinking water with special attention to climate change and its impact on community health. Her recent fieldwork in Ghana offered key insights into local water practices, sanitation, and the broader environmental challenges communities face.
What is the focus of your research within SPRINGS?
My research explores the interaction between climate, microbial water quality and human practices and how that affects the quality of drinking water. I’m using a Water Safety Planning (WSP) framework to assess risks across the entire drinking water supply system, from the catchment level to household use level. The aim is to better understand how drinking water is accessed, how that water is treated, and where the potential health risks lie using a risk assessment approach.
You recently carried out fieldwork in Ghana. What did you hope to learn?
The fieldwork was a chance to explore the water landscape in our study area in more depth. We wanted to understand what types of water sources are used in different communities, what treatment methods exist, and how people perceive the safety of their water. At the same time, we were building relationships with local stakeholders responsible for managing water resources, something that’s crucial for the success of this kind of work.
What did you observe about water access and use in the communities you visited?
One of the main takeaways was that access to safe drinking water is very limited. In many cases, people simply use whatever water source is available, even if it’s shared with animals or visibly contaminated. It’s a matter of necessity. That really highlights the gap in infrastructure and how environmental stressors, like flooding, make things even more difficult. In addition, poor sanitation practices are also major drivers of poor water quality within the study area.
How does this research contribute to the broader goals of SPRINGS?
The ultimate goal is to help reduce diarrhoea in children under five by improving the quality of drinking water.Working with other researchers in SPRINGS, Water Supply System descriptions, an output from the fieldwork, will be used to determine water sampling locations and also to inform other work packages about the water supply landscape in the prospective communities. By identifying the main risks and understanding how climate change is making them worse, we can work with communities to co-develop practical, climate-resilient solutions providing evidence for work packages working on community interventions.
What’s next for you in this research?
We plan to continue working with community stakeholders to analyse and unravel water supply system vulnerabilities so as to develop actionable recommendations. These will be grounded in the local context and designed to support long-term improvements in water safety based on gathered data.