DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION AND FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMPTION LEVEL IN DIRE DAWA CITY, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

An adequate amount of safe water is necessary to provide enough amount of water for consumption, to avoid death from dehydration, to reduce the risk of water born disease and to improve hygiene situation. Understanding the variables that determine household water consumption helps in management and expanding service delivery to the un-served sections of the polulation. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine factors affecting per capita water consumption level in Dire Dawa City from May 15 to 30, 2016. A community based cross sectional study to collect data from 408 households by using stratified sampling technique was used. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding socio-demographic and water use characteristics among households. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. As found out, the mean pre-capita daily water consumption of sample households with private connection and households with out private connection is 18.76 liters and 16.79 liters respectively. Majority (76.2%) of the households water use was below WHO minimum standards of a person minimum requirement (20 liters per capita per day). The result of regression analysis indicated that five variables were found to influence per capita water consumption significantly. Primary occupation of household head, average monthly income, average monthly water price, use of water flush toilet as well as presence of meter connection were positively significant while, household size and time to collect water influence the per capita water use negatively. Thus, the provision of adequate quantity of water for urban households should be given due attention for maintaining human wellbeing and considerations of socio-economic factors affecting per capita water consumption are desirable in planning and implementation of proper water demand management strategies.