Assessmentofcleanwatersupply,Sanitation,Andhygiene Statusincentralhighlandsof ethiopia

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