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Safe water and adequate sanitation are basic rights of people and fundamental to human
development. However, large proportion of the world population, particularly in low income
countries, lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation. Ethiopia is one of the countries with
poor coverage of sanitation, drinking water and the percentage of people practicing open defecation
is high. Data on the water, sanitation and hygiene in peri-urban areas is scarce because research and
intervention have focused on rural and urban areas. The objective of this study is to assess the
bacteriological quality of drinking water as well as sanitary and hygienic status of peri urban areas
in Bahir Dar city. A community based cross sectional study was conducted in peri-urban areas of
Bahir Dar. The water sample was collected from 50 households and taken two times per day
(morning and afternoon). Assessments of sanitary and hygienic practices were done through doorto-door
observation checklist and face-to-face interview from 384 households. Among these 50
households were selected by systematic random sampling for water analysis. The bacteriological
quality of drinking water was evaluated by most probable number (MPN) technique. The data
obtained from water samples were analyzed by using a paired sample T-test and sanitary and
hygienic conditions analyzed with linear regression. In terms of total coliform counts, in the first
round the water samples from majority of the households (68%) and in the second round about one
third (34%) of the households were satisfactory for human consumption. However, in terms of fecal
coliform, in the first round 41 (82%) and in the second round only 16 (32%) of the households were
satisfactory. The mean value of total and fecal coliforms increased from morning to afternoon
ranging from 5.56 to 36.34 and 0.86 to 7.46, respectively. The fecal contamination is increased in
the second round with significant difference (p=0.021). Among the households, 155 (44.5%) obtain
their drinking water by buying from other private tap water (water vendors) and majority 249
(64.9%) travel from 10 to 30 minutes to get water. One hundred twenty (31.3%) of the households
do not have latrine and practiced open space defecation. This study shows that the quality of
drinking water in the study area is poor and the storage container, withdrawing method, living with
livestock are associated factors for fecal contamination. Open defecation and shared latrines with
other households, poor hygiene of latrine were observed in the study community. Further studies
are needed to determine the exact point of contamination and the seasonal variation in
contamination level and sanitary conditions in the study area.
Key Words: Bahir Dar city, Coliforms, Hygiene, Periurban, Sanitation, Water supply |
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