Abstract
Accurate assessments of drinking water quality, household hygenic practices, and the mindset of the consumers are critical for developing effective water intervention strategies. This paper presents a microbial quality assessment of 512 samples from household water storage containers and 167 samples from points of collection (POC) in remote rural communities in the hilly area of western Nepal. We found that 81% of the stored drinking water samples (mean log10 of all samples = 1.16 colony-forming units (CFU)/100 mL, standard deviation (SD) = 0.84) and 68% of the POC samples (mean log10 of all samples = 0.57 CFU/100 mL, SD = 0.86) had detectable E. coli. The quality of stored water was significantly correlated with the quality at the POC, with the majority (63%) of paired samples showing a deterioration in quality post-collection. Locally applied household water treatment (HWT) methods did not effectively improve microbial water quality. Among all household sanitary inspection questions, only the presence of livestock near the water storage container was significantly correlated with its microbial contamination. Households’ perceptions of their drinking water quality were mostly influenced by the water’s visual appearance, and these perceptions in general motivated their use of HWT. Improving water quality within the distribution network and promoting safer water handling practices are proposed to reduce the health risk due to consumption of contaminated water in this setting.
Highlights
Half a million deaths per year are attributed to inadequate drinking water supplies [1].Despite remarkable progress in extending access to improved water sources over the past decades, an estimated 2.2 billion people still rely on sources contaminated with fecal bacteria, the vast majority of whom live in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [2]
Present study, concerned with the health risks associated with faecal contamination of drinking water, the analysis which is concerned with the health risks associated with faecal contamination of drinking water, the focuses on coli as recommended by the analysis focuses on E. coli as recommended by the WHO [17]
Our approach can be replicated by stakeholders in similar locations or in unserved regions to monitor the microbial water quality and thereby inform the prioritization of a
Summary
Half a million deaths per year are attributed to inadequate drinking water supplies [1].Despite remarkable progress in extending access to improved water sources over the past decades, an estimated 2.2 billion people still rely on sources contaminated with fecal bacteria, the vast majority of whom live in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [2]. Public Health 2020, 17, 2172; doi:10.3390/ijerph17072172 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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