A recent study has explored the health tradeoffs between boiling water to ensure safety and the air pollution caused by burning fuels necessary for this process. Conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University, the study indicates that while there are health risks associated with air pollution from boiling water, the benefits of reducing waterborne diseases generally outweigh these risks.
Angela Harris, a co-corresponding author of the paper and an associate professor at NC State, highlighted that in areas lacking centralized clean water infrastructure, households often bear the responsibility for ensuring their water is safe. “The advice to those households is often to boil the water before using it,” Harris noted. However, she acknowledged that these households might rely on heating sources that present their own risks.
The study utilized modified computational models to assess health effects from both contaminated water consumption and air pollution exposure due to cookstoves. Andrew Grieshop, another co-corresponding author and professor at NC State, explained that they accounted for various cooking methods ranging from open woodfires to electric stovetops in their modeling framework. The research included case studies in Uganda and Vietnam using demographic and public health data.
Harris stated that boiling highly contaminated water significantly reduces risk, especially for children. She added that if unclean cookstoves are already used for meal preparation, using them additionally for boiling causes only a slight increase in risk. “This is a tradeoff worth taking,” Harris said.
Grieshop emphasized the importance of improving ambient air quality alongside ensuring clean drinking water. He suggested transitioning to cleaner cookstoves could make a significant difference in public health outcomes.
The researchers believe their modeling framework could serve as a tool for public health organizations aiming to incorporate region-specific data into their assessments. This would allow better conclusions regarding risk tradeoffs related to clean air and clean water.
Published in Environmental Health Perspectives, the paper titled “Health Trade-offs of Boiling Drinking Water with Solid Fuels: A Modeling Study” was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NC State Global One Health Fellowship.
