Assessment of the quality of household drinking water in Mbeere south sub-county, Embu county
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Date
2014-10-03
Authors
Njiru, Daisy Mutitu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Good quality household drinking water is an important determinant of public health in rural
communities especially in Africa. The rationale behind protecting drinking water sources is
therefore the provision of good quality household drinking water. Nevertheless, recent studies
have shown that improved public water supply does not necessarily improve water quality at
the point of use. Drinking water quality quickly deteriorates after collection and during
storage in the home; and therefore imperative for emphasis on home based water treatment
and safe storage. The use of household water treatment and safe storage technologies has
received wide recognition in the reduction of diarrheal diseases. This study seeks to evaluate
the quality of household drinking water in Mbeere South Sub County, Embu County. To
achieve this broader objective, the study will investigate the bacteriological quality of
drinking water at the source and at the point of use. The study will also establish water
handling and hygiene practices in households as well as household water treatment methods.
The study will be a cross sectional descriptive study survey on 192 households drawn from
Mwea and Makima divisions as well as microbial water analysis. Two-cluster sampling
design will be used. Administrative sub locations will form the clusters. Households will be
selected by equal probability systematic sampling from clusters sampled by probability
proportional to size procedure. Data will be collected using interviewer administered
questionnaires and observational checklists. 112 drinking water samples will be analyzed for
total coliforms and Escherichia coli using multiple tube fermentation. Statistically analyses
will be conducted by SPSS version 20.Descriptive statistics will be used; cross tabulations, ttest
and multivariate logistic regression will be used. The results will be displayed graphically
and in tabular form. The findings will provide useful intervention measures to ensure quality
of household drinking water in Mbeere South Sub-County. The findings will also contribute
to the general body of knowledge in the field of public health. The study will also be
informative for future researches on drinking water quality in the area and elsewhere
Description
School of Public Health