Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development (Jun 2022)
An evidence-based approach towards identifying household emerging pollutants in rural areas in Southern Karnataka
Abstract
The need for establishing the emerging pollutants for various rural households has witnessed a paradigm-shift towards health-related issues. Low-income groups have inadvertently contributed to environmental degradation due to improper hygienic conditions. In this paper, statistical analysis on gathered data from regional households in Karnataka has been evaluated for the health status of the individuals. A selected area based on village patterns was presented with a sample questionnaire in order to gather the patterns of household conditions prevailing in the area. A broad categorization based on the Fuzzy C clustering approach has classifiers in the form of demographic and socio-economic responses, water supply factors, sanitation, indoor air pollution, and solid waste management approaches. For each of the categories, the emerging pollutant has been identified which collectively points to ‘Poverty’ being the primary cause of deteriorating household conditions among people in such rural areas. The results of the questionnaire indicated a strong correlation between the prevalence of pollution and ill health in the low-income category of people. The authors opine that this investigation would contribute to the Government initiative of the Swachh Bharat Mission. HIGHLIGHTS First-ever statistical investigation into low-income groups towards environmental degradation.; Preliminary research using machine learning techniques to identify emerging pollutants in a selected rural area.; Addressing ‘poverty’ as not only a financial aspect but also as a primary cause for health deterioration among low-income groups.; Strong correlation analysis backed by sufficient statistical evidence link ill-health and low-income of people in selected areas.; This research provides evidence to facilitate Swachh Bharat Mission of India.;
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