Health Impact Assessment for Sustainable Water Management

Health Impact Assessment for Sustainable Water Management is a pioneering international text, exploring and developing this emerging discipline. It is the first to take an international perspective seeking to draw generic lessons from both the developed and developing nations’ experience in this new area of activity. The approach is being applied in policy development to strengthen the ‘evidence-base’ and across a wide spectrum of resource developments, industrial and urban infrastructure projects and in ‘aid’ projects in developing countries. This book illustrates the importance of considering health in water management developments and demonstrates the role of health impact assessment (HIA) in this process. Case-studies illustrate a range of management approaches to different system implementation issues and scale factors, ranging from domestic rainwater harvesting for the supply of non-potable water to a large-scale hydroelectric project. The concept, objectives, terminology and challenges of HIA are introduced and illustrated by case studies including rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, sustainable drainage and evaluations of the health impacts of flooding. Developing country case studies include a small-scale irrigation project in Zimbabwe, a large hydro-electric scheme in Lao (Peoples Democratic Republic) and the implementation issues surrounding the use of domestic wastewater as a resource in demand by agricultural enterprises in Pakistan. The case studies illustrate different HIA approaches, including the use of quantitative and qualitative information and provide benchmarks of current practice for practitioners seeking to apply HIA in the emerging agendas in both developed and developing nations. The critical appraisals within each chapter offer both best practice exemplars as well as explanations of problems and mistakes of past project implementation, and define the requirements for the policy communities who will be increasingly required to accommodate HIA information in resource allocation decisions. As a result, this book will be of interest to planners, developers, policy makers, public health, environmental and water utility scientists and practitioners.