Water Scarcity May Lead to Poor Mental Health: A Community-Focused Study in Rural El Salvador

Abstract

Worldwide, contaminated water sources constitute the main risk factor for several diseases and represent 2.2% of global deaths. El Salvador is a country with lower water availability per habitant and with more degraded environmental conditions compared with the other countries in Central America. The aim of this study is to identify the association between safe water availability and the self-perceived health status, considering the sense of community as a possible protective factor of this relationship in rural areas of El Salvador. This study has been carried out as part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura.” A total of 159 inhabitants of rural El Salvador areas were face-to-face interviewed about the acquisition, use, and storage of water, and the Household Water InSecurity Experiences Scale, the Short Form-12, and the Sense of Community Index-2 were administrated. Results showed negative associations between the water insecurity and the health-related quality of life, mainly mental health. Moreover, the interaction between the sense of community and water insecurity was a significant predictor in the majority of the mental health outcomes, highlighting that the sense of community could have a main role of mediator in the association between the scarcity of water and the mental health outcomes. This study suggests that the water scarcity may lead to poor mental health, and that a stronger sense of community could be a protective factor of the quality of life in people who are experiencing scarce water availability.