Abstract
This study was carried out in Langas, an unplanned peri-urban settlement in Eldoret municipality in western Kenya. The objective of the study was to determine the bacteriological quality of dug-wells vis -a-vis pit lat rine siting. Water samples were collected fro m each dug-well and the distance between each dug-well to the nearest pit latrine was measured. The MPN technique was used to determine nu mber o f faecal colifo rms. The mean d istance between dug-wells and pit latrines was 19.664m. 34% of samples had total coliform counts ranging fro m 0-99TC/100ml and 14% had over 1100TC/ 100ml. 82% of dug-wells had faecal colifo rms ranging fro m 0-99FC/100ml wh ile only 2% had 1100FC/ 100ml. A significant but weak indirect (negative) association between pit latrine distance and level of faecal contamination was detected using the chi square test. That is, as distance between pit latrine and dug-well increases, the Faecal Coliform count decreases. This could be interpreted as decreasing distance increases the chances/risk for dug-well contamination to occur. Using the Linear Regression model, the minimu m d istance for dug-well contamination not to occur through latrine seepage was found to be not less than 38m.
Highlights
It is often said that good sanitation improves the quality of life by reducing commun icable diseases like childhood diarrhoeas
Ten per cent (10%) of the dug-wells were located less than 10 metres fro m the pit latrines, while 46% and 40% were located 10 metres to 19.99 met res and 20 metres to 29.99 metres fro m pit latrines respectively
Eighty two per cent (82%) of the samples had faecal co liforms ranging fro m 0-99FC/ 100ml wh ile only 2% had 1,100FC/ 100ml [Table 2]
Summary
It is often said that good sanitation improves the quality of life by reducing commun icable diseases like childhood diarrhoeas. It is known that “water is life” and “sanitation is health” good sanitation facilities alone are unlikely to decrease the risk o f disease transmission unless accompanied by good hygiene practices. This leaves no doubt that the relationships amongst water supply, sanitation and human health are linked intimately[1]. It is a well-known fact that in the largest cities in Africa, We hypothesised that dug-well water in Langas is not contaminated with faecal matter due to latrine seepage.
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