Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya
Household drinking water quality is dependent on a number of determinants which could be arising at the source, during transportation or due to storage and handling practices. The challenge of unsafe water is even big in urban settings that are often characterized by exponential population growth, i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022007071 |
| _version_ | 1828515511382573056 |
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| author | J.K. Ondieki D.N. Akunga P.N. Warutere Omanga Kenyanya |
| author_facet | J.K. Ondieki D.N. Akunga P.N. Warutere Omanga Kenyanya |
| author_sort | J.K. Ondieki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Household drinking water quality is dependent on a number of determinants which could be arising at the source, during transportation or due to storage and handling practices. The challenge of unsafe water is even big in urban settings that are often characterized by exponential population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and poor sanitary facilities. Contaminated water is a leading cause of water borne diseases which are a major public health and policy makers concern. In fact, Water borne diseases are third cause of mortality in Kenya whereas they are ranked second in Kisii. The study was designed to investigate the factors affecting household drinking water quality in Kisii Town that has four main zones which include: Mwembe, Jogoo, Nyanchwa and CBD. Demographics, level of awareness in terms of water quality as well as hygiene and sanitation practices of the study population were studied using questionnaires. The questionnaires were filled by interviewing household heads from 422 sampled households. Qualitative data was also obtained by use of Focused group discussions (FGDs). Perspectives of key people such as public health officers were acquired through Key informant interviews (KIIs). The study found a significant relationship between household size and water quality in terms of presence of total coliforms. The following hygiene and sanitation factors were found to be having significant relationship with presence of E. coli in household drinking water; source of water (p = 0.002), transportation container (p = 0.029), covering during transportation (p = 0.012), storage container (p < 0.001), method of drawing from storage container (p < 0.001), feces disposal (p = 0.001) and garbage disposal method (p = 0.04). The conclusion of this study is that good hygiene and sanitation practices are important in ensuring total safety of drinking water at the point of use. There is therefore need for more capacity building in this region to ensure that people do not consume contaminated water which is a major contributing factor to water-borne diseases. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:14:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-14db830eee164ab0b2f928373220cf89 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:14:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-14db830eee164ab0b2f928373220cf892022-12-22T00:55:29ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402022-05-0185e09419Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, KenyaJ.K. Ondieki0D.N. Akunga1P.N. Warutere2Omanga Kenyanya3School of Public Health, Kenyatta University, Kenya; Corresponding author.School of Public Health, Kenyatta University, KenyaSchool of Public Health, Kenyatta University, KenyaSchool of Pure and Applied Sciences, Kisii University, KenyaHousehold drinking water quality is dependent on a number of determinants which could be arising at the source, during transportation or due to storage and handling practices. The challenge of unsafe water is even big in urban settings that are often characterized by exponential population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and poor sanitary facilities. Contaminated water is a leading cause of water borne diseases which are a major public health and policy makers concern. In fact, Water borne diseases are third cause of mortality in Kenya whereas they are ranked second in Kisii. The study was designed to investigate the factors affecting household drinking water quality in Kisii Town that has four main zones which include: Mwembe, Jogoo, Nyanchwa and CBD. Demographics, level of awareness in terms of water quality as well as hygiene and sanitation practices of the study population were studied using questionnaires. The questionnaires were filled by interviewing household heads from 422 sampled households. Qualitative data was also obtained by use of Focused group discussions (FGDs). Perspectives of key people such as public health officers were acquired through Key informant interviews (KIIs). The study found a significant relationship between household size and water quality in terms of presence of total coliforms. The following hygiene and sanitation factors were found to be having significant relationship with presence of E. coli in household drinking water; source of water (p = 0.002), transportation container (p = 0.029), covering during transportation (p = 0.012), storage container (p < 0.001), method of drawing from storage container (p < 0.001), feces disposal (p = 0.001) and garbage disposal method (p = 0.04). The conclusion of this study is that good hygiene and sanitation practices are important in ensuring total safety of drinking water at the point of use. There is therefore need for more capacity building in this region to ensure that people do not consume contaminated water which is a major contributing factor to water-borne diseases.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022007071Water qualityDeterminantsSocio-demographicHygiene and sanitation |
| spellingShingle | J.K. Ondieki D.N. Akunga P.N. Warutere Omanga Kenyanya Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya Heliyon Water quality Determinants Socio-demographic Hygiene and sanitation |
| title | Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya |
| title_full | Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya |
| title_short | Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya |
| title_sort | socio demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in kisii town kisii county kenya |
| topic | Water quality Determinants Socio-demographic Hygiene and sanitation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022007071 |
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