EVALUATION OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY, HYGIENE AND SANITATION STATUS IN DEDER TOWN, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Safe water and sanitation are fundamental to life and everyone has a right to these basic services. The generation of recent information about both the water quality status and sanitation condition is highly important for intervention. Hence, a descriptive study was conducted to assess the quality of drinking water supplied to the residents of Deder town at the point of water sources, reservoirs, taps water and household containers from June 2020 to January 2021. A survey of 24 water samples and sanitary inspections were conducted in raw water sources, reservoirs, 10 taps water and 10 household water containers. The water samples were examined for some drinking water quality parameters and bacteriological conditions. The water quality parameters and sanitation facility services used by residents were analysed and assessed at 4 sampling sites (SWs, R, TW and HH) for 24 total drinking water samples in Deder town. Site selection was conducted by simple random techniques. Direct observation and semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to assess drinking water treatment, presence and condition of sanitation facilities, hygiene and water handling practices. Samples were collected from water sources, reservoirs, taps water and household containers and analysed for temperature, pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, TDS, total hardness, Ca +2 , Mg +2 , NO3, FCR, Fe, Cu, TC and FS.Almost all 24 drinking water samples collected met the WHO guideline for Total coliform (TC) and Faecal streptococci (FS) of 0 cfu/100 ml. The mean of drinking water samples analysed from tap water and household containers for free chlorine residual met the WHO guideline but the mean values of reservoirs were above the WHO guideline and EPA standard. Out of the total respondents, 278(97.2%) had traditional types of pit latrine while 8 (2.8 %) used ventilated improved pit type of latrine and the majority of them, 285 (99.7 %) used the latrine regularly. The majority of respondents,195(68.2 %) did wash their hands after defecation but the number of respondents that use soap, ash and water only were 156 (54.5 %), 21(7.3 %) and 109 (38.1 %)respectively. Out of those respondents who had latrines, 232 (81.1 %) of respondents did not put hand washing facilities near to latrines. 189 (66.1 %) respondents were using open field as waste disposal sites and 97(32.9 %) of the pit. Almost all drinking water samples analysed met the national and international water standards for human consumptions. The present work is limited to few physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters and sampling frequency. Therefore, further studies should be conducted in dif erent seasons considering water quality parameters such as phosphates, fluoride, heavy metals and microbiological.