Silavwe et al., 2018 An Assessment of the Quantity and Microbiological Quality of Domestic Water Supplied to Residents of Peri-Urban Townships of Lusaka District, Zambia

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Keywords: Water, Microbial Quality, Quantity, Lusaka

Abstract

Introduction: Access to safe and clean water is important and it has been reported that many diarrheal illness recorded in developing counties are due to unsafe and insufficient water.

Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the quantity and microbiological quality of household domestic water supply in Peri-urban areas of Lusaka.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study. Seven (7) Peri urban areas in Lusaka district were included in the study. Fourteen (14) water samples were collected from each of the Peri-urban areas for bacteriological analysis (faecal and total coliform) using the Colitag ™ test kit and multi-tube fermentation test method. Questionnaires were also administered to 196 households in participating townships to collect information on the quantity of water utilization per household per day.

Results: The study found that 90% of people in the study areas have access to piped water, mostly from boreholes and water kiosks. The quantity of water used per person per day is between 20 to 60 litres. The majority (60.6%) of the water samples examined contained total coliform while about 52.5% contained faecal coliform.

Conclusion: The amount of water supplied to the Peri-urban townships of Lusaka district is highly inadequate and the microbial quality

Published
2018-06-20