Abstract
Contamination of drinking water in household water storage containers and inadequate water supplies are common public burdens in low- and middle-income countries, including towns in Wegera District, Ethiopia. Our study aimed to assess the quality of drinking water and identify factors associated with diarrhea in households with under-five (U5) children with and without diarrhea in Ambagiorgis and Gedebge towns in Wegera District. Stored drinking water samples from households with U5 children with and without diarrhea had fecal coliform (FC) counts of 59 (86.8%) and 55 (82.1%) (p > 0.05) and fecal streptococci (FS) counts of 29 (42.7%) and 24 (35.8%) (p > 0.05), respectively. The very high sanitary risk scores were 32 (47.1%) and 21 (31.3%) for FC (p > 0.05); 25 (36.8%) and 3 (4.5%) for FS (p < 0.001), respectively. Contamination of the stored drinking water samples with FS was significantly higher in households with diarrhetic U5 children in the low- and medium-risk ranges (p < 0.05). Water turbidity of 47 (69.1%) and 23 (34.3%) in households with U5 children with and without diarrhea, respectively, was above the permissible level (p < 0.001). The residual free chlorine (RFC) in all the household-stored drinking water samples was below the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible level and temperatures of all the household-stored drinking water samples were permissible. Promotion and advocacy of good stored drinking water handling practices are essential for decreasing the high risk of microbial contamination in both study areas. We recommend education interventions targeting personal hygiene and drinking water handling at the household level.
Highlights
About 28 in 100 people lack access to sufficient and quality drinking water globally (World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF 2017)
Using the WHO water standard (WHO 2011), the current study found that the microbial quality of household-stored drinking water in most of the stored drinking water samples from both households with U5 children with diarrhea and households with U5 children without diarrhea was contaminated with fecal coliform (FC)
This study found that household-stored drinking water was grossly contaminated with FC and fecal streptococci (FS) in both households with U5 children with diarrhea and households with U5 children without diarrhea in the northwestern Ethiopian highlands
Summary
About 28 in 100 people lack access to sufficient and quality drinking water globally (WHO and UNICEF 2017). The disparity in piped drinking water access between urban and rural communities is highly pronounced worldwide Ethiopia met the 2015 Millennium Development target of providing drinking water from improved sources (WHO/UNICEF 2015). Microbial contamination is the most common and widespread health risk associated with drinking water (Daud et al 2017), especially among young children, who have the highest diarrhea rates worldwide (Nelson et al 2012). Water collected from sources with good microbial quality may become contaminated during storage in households (Tadesse et al 2010; Adane et al 2017b)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call