article · Frontiers in Public Health
An investigation in Dessie Zuria district in northeastern Ethiopia assessed drinking water contamination and related factors across 412 households with children under five years old. Water testing showed that 58.5 percent of households relied on unimproved water sources, and 66.0 percent of stored drinking water samples were contaminated with faecal coliform bacteria. Several domestic practices significantly increased the odds of contamination. These included storing water for three days or more, withdrawing water using dipping methods, leaving storage containers uncovered, lacking home-based water treatment, and disposing of liquid waste unsafely. The results demonstrate a high prevalence of faecal bacteria in household water supplies, driven largely by post-collection handling and storage practices within the home rather than source quality alone.
Contaminated drinking water presents severe health hazards, especially to children under five who are highly vulnerable to diarrhoeal diseases. By pinpointing precise household practices that allow faecal bacteria to enter drinking supplies, such as dipping and leaving containers open, health organisations and local authorities can focus hygiene education and community interventions where they have the most direct impact on child health.
The abstract does not evaluate a specific technology or product pathway. However, the findings highlight an operational need for manufacturers and distributers of affordable point-of-use water treatment products and safe storage containers designed with taps to eliminate dipping. This observational evidence helps define design requirements for low-cost household hardware, although any commercial solution remains at an early concept stage based on these findings alone.
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Objective More than half of the 700 million people worldwide who lack access to a safe water supply live in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia. Globally, approximately 2 billion people use drinking water sources that are contaminated with fecal matter. However, little is known about the relationship between fecal coliforms and determinants in drinking water. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential for contamination of drinking water and its associated factors in households with children under 5 years of age in Dessie Zuria district in northeastern Ethiopia. Methods The water laboratory was conducted based on the American Public Health Association guidelines for water and wastewater assessment using a membrane filtration technique. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to identify factors associated with the potential for contamination of drinking water in 412 selected households. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with the presence or absence of fecal coliforms in drinking water, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and a value of p ≤ 0.05. The overall goodness of the model was tested using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and the model was fit. Results A total of 241 (58.5%) households relied on unimproved water supply sources. In addition, approximately two-thirds 272 (66.0%) of the household water samples were positive for fecal coliform bacteria. Water storage duration ≥3 days (AOR = 4.632; 95% CI: 1.529–14.034), dipping method of water withdrawal from a water storage tank (AOR = 4.377; 95% CI: 1.382–7.171), uncovered water storage tank at control (AOR = 5.700; 95% CI: 2.017–31.189), lack of home-based water treatment (AOR = 4.822; 95% CI: 1.730–13.442), and unsafe household liquid waste disposal methods (AOR = 3.066; 95% CI: 1.706–8.735) were factors significantly associated with the presence of fecal contamination in drinking water. Conclusion Fecal contamination of water was high. The duration of water storage, the method of water withdrawal from the storage container, covering of the water storage container, the presence of home-based water treatment, and the method of liquid waste disposal were factors for fecal contamination in drinking water. Therefore, health professionals should continuously educate the public on proper water use and water quality assessment.
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DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1199314
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