Abstract:
Theaim ofthisstudywascleanwatersupply,sanitation,andhygienepracticesinambo
and toke kutaye districts ofwestshewa zone)ethiopia.A longitudinalstudywas
conductedfrom June2022toFebruary2023intwopurposivelyselectedAmboand
TokeKutayedistricts.Intotal,404watersamplesfrom 20typesofwatersources
and384householdcontainerswerecollected.Bacteriologicalloadwascounted
from the water samples using membrane filtration while physicochemical
parametersweredeterminedusingmulti-parameterprobe(HACHHQ40d,USA)and
Spectrophotometric.Bacteriologicalandphysicochemicalparametersdatacollected
wereanalyzedusingSPSSversion25statisticalsoftware.Theresultsshowedthat
themeasuredvaluesofthephysicochemicalparameterswereintherangeof
temperature (19.67-22.33°C and 19.26-20.91°C),pH(6.58–6.79 and 6.26–7.12),
electricalconductivity(251.33–560.00 μS/cm and 153–760 μS/cm),dissolved
Oxygen(2.495–5.6mg/land2.29–5.53mg/l),nitrate(2.07-4.05mg/land3.14-4.98
mg/l),nitrite(0.011-0.085mg/land0.054-0.10mg/l)andtotalphosphorus(0.015-
0.089 mg/land 0.01-0.049 mg/l),respectively atdrinking watersources and
householdcontainersforbothseasons.Theresultsshowedthatthemeasured
valuesofthemicrobialloadwereintherangeofEscherichiacolicountsfrom (0.67-
476.33CFU/100mland29.2-151.56CFU/100ml),whereasthoseforEnterococci
(1.33-417.67CFU/100mland24.03-141.4CFU/100ml),respectivelyfrom drinking
watersources and household containers forboth seasons.Allparameters in
drinkingwatersampleswerewithinthepermissiblelimitofWHOguidelines,except
temperature,Escherichiacoli,andEnterococciwereabovethepermissiblerangeto
WHO guidelines.Ourfindingssuggestthatmostwatersourcesandhousehold
containersinthestudieddistrictsofWesternShewaZone,OromiaRegionwere
contaminatedbyEscherichiacoliandEnterococci
