ASSESSEMENT OF COVERAGE AND QUALITY OF POTABLE WATER AND SANITATION IN RURAL AREAS OF KUCHA WOREDA, GAMO ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Safe water supply and sanitation services are basic requirements for a society. Limited access associated with poor water supply, sanitation and hygiene make the community to depend on unsafe and improvement of basic water supply and sanitation services to give proper and timely response. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate coverage and quality of potable water supply and sanitation services and forecast the future demand by 2035 for Kucha Woreda. Five Kebele administrations were selected by purposive sampling technique. Totally 110 households (HHs) were selected as a sample population for primary data sources are then distributed to each Kebeles proportionally by using purposive sampling technique. The data sources for the study were both primary and secondary. For secondary data collection document review was used as a tool to collect valuable information. Household surveys, personal observations and key-informants interview were used for primary data collection. The data from households were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques and explanation building. The inferential statistics one way ANOVA and were descriptive statistical employed to see the statistical significances and associations of the variables respectively. The major finding showed that there are low coverage (21.9%), inadequate spatial distribution of water points (58.4%), low per capita consumption (an average of 7.36 liters), with almost all residents consuming less than 25 liters of safe water, and waiting water-fetching times (an average of 52. 5 minutes). Likewise, sanitation situation was not so healthy and encouraging. Many factors were responsible for poor sanitation. Some of them were lack of proper disposal of garbage and toilet waste and lack of knowledge of rural people about personal hygiene and health. The survey result showed that more than 51.4% of the households were disposing baby faces and solid wastes in the open field, majorities of them (26.5.%) using water only, water use and ash 14.1% of respondents in the study area don't use water at all for hand washing after defecating. The result of water quality test of the study area obtained overall water quality indicates that most parameters are within standard except parameters like Temperature, Iron and phosphate that do not fulfill the WHO and Ethiopian drinking water standards. Bacteriological results show that the presence pathogens i.e. total coliform four water sample sites contaminated exceeding the WHO and Ethiopian standards which do not allow any fecal or total colonies in drinking water