Inequalities in microbial contamination of drinking water supplies in urban areas: the case of Lilongwe, Malawi

摘要: Over past decades strategies for improving access to drinking water in cities of the Global South have mainly focused on increasing coverage, while quality has often been overlooked. This paper focuses centralized supply network Lilongwe, capital Malawi. It shows how microbial contamination is unequally distributed consumers low-income (unplanned areas) and higher-income neighbourhoods (planned areas). Microbial residual disinfectant concentration were measured 170 samples collected from in-house taps high-income areas kiosks storage facilities between November 2014 January 2015. Faecal ( Escherichia coli ) was detected 10% 40 planned areas, 59% 64 unplanned 75% 32 stored at household level. Differences found be statistically significant p < 0.05. Finally, inequalities are produced by decisions both development infrastructure this operated maintained.