scholarly journals Household Perceptions about Drinking Water Quality and Human Health: A Comparative Analysis of Urban and Rural Areas in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rabia Zafar ◽  
Asghar Ali ◽  
Sarfraz Hassan ◽  
Khalid Mushtaq

Public awareness about safe drinking water plays a significant role in household choices for drinking water sources and the prevention measures of water contamination. The present study was aimed to explore the awareness of households about groundwater quality and investigate the incidence of waterborne diseases in comparison with urban and rural households. Primary data were collected from 600 households by using the stratified random sampling technique. To analyze the outcomes descriptive and graphical approaches were used, however, to check the association between water sources and waterborne diseases bi-variate techniques were employed. It was found that the households belonging to urban localities were more aware about health risks associated with drinking water quality. Outcomes disclosed that on an average 48.8% of the household’s get affected from drinking water quality and face waterborne diseases, however, the incidence were greater (49.7%) in rural households compared to (48.0%) urban households. Findings also revealed that on an average 58.8% of the households suffered from belly pain and stomach problems and its incidence were 60.4% and 57.4% in rural and urban areas, respectively. Results disclosed that household’s income and medical expenditures were significantly associated with drinking water facility. It is suggested that the awareness about water quality should be disseminated among households in order to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naeem Akram

Abstract. Access to clean and safe drinking water is a basic human right. Poor quality of drinking water is directly associated with various waterborne diseases. The present study has attempted to analyze the household preferences for drinking water sources and the adoption of water purifying methods at home in Pakistan by using the household data of Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18. It has been found that people living in rural areas, headed by aged ones and having large family sizes are significantly less likely to use safe drinking water sources and households having media exposure, education, women empowerment in household purchases and belonging to the rich segment of society are more likely to use safe drinking water source. Similarly, households belonging to urban areas, having a higher level of awareness (through education and media), belonging to wealthy families, women enjoying a higher level of empowerment and using piped water are more likely to adopt water-purifying methods at home. However, households using water from tube wells, wells, and boreholes and having higher family sizes are less likely to adopt water purifying methods at home.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
Tanuja Barua ◽  
Sujit Kumar Roy ◽  
Mehedi Hasan Munna

The study was executed in Noakhali sadar (urban) and Subarnachar upazil (rural) to determine the drinking water quality and sanitation facilities. The baseline data was collected based on questionnaire survey. And the physicochemical and ionic constituents of drinking water were determined by analyzing water samples. The result showed that in rural areas about 87.5% families utilized tube-well water and the rest used polluted pond water, while in the urban areas, 91% families utilized supplied water by paying monthly. The sanitation situation in the rural area was not at satisfactory level. The mean values of several critical parameters from the two areas (rural and urban) were found to be the following. pH values were 7.10 and 7.63, respectively. Electric conductivity was found to be 530.17 and 768.76 μS/cm, respectively. Salinity value was 0.23 and 0.35 ppt, respectively. Total dissolved solid (TDS) was found to be 264.91 and 372.82 ppm, respectively. Elemental composition of the sampled water from the two areas were also obtained. Mean values of the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) from the two areas were found to be 7.24 and 7.52 mg/l, respectively. Among the other elements, amount of phosphorus was 0.55 and 0.46 ppm, potassium was 43.82 and 35.82 mg/l, sulfate was 10.03 and 1.00 mg/l, chloride was 42.15 and 149.95 mg/l, and iron was 5.57 and 1.30 mg/l, respectively. It is clear that the drinking water quality for both areas was not good for direct consumption. The situation in the rural areas is worse than that in the urban areas. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. March 2019, 5(1): 37-47


Author(s):  
Roohi Rawat ◽  
A. R. Siddiqui

Clean and safe drinking water is important for the overall health and wellbeing; therefore, access to safe potable drinking water is one of the basic amenities of humankind, especially in urban areas with high consumption pattern of the large population inhabiting these spaces. Among the various sources of water, groundwater is considered to be the safest source of drinking water. However, due to rapid industrialization and population growth, the groundwater resources are getting polluted with harmful contaminants. These contaminants can be chemical or microbiological and cause various health problems. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80 percent of all diseases in the world are directly or indirectly related to the contamination of water. Water in its natural state is colorless, odorless, and free from pathogens with pH in the range of 6.5–8.5. This water is termed as “potable water.” In the present study, the researchers have made an attempt to assess the physiochemical characteristics of drinking water quality in Allahabad and the effect of these contaminants on the health of the consumers. A comparison of the parameter standards as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (ISI, Indian standard specification for drinking water (IS10500). New Delhi: ISI, 1983 ) and the WHO (Guidelines for drinking water quality (Vol. 1). Geneva: WHO, 1984 ) have also been made to understand the national and global benchmarks. With the help of the standards of various parameters given by these organizations, the assessment of water quality of samples from various locations in Allahabad has been done.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilmar Torres-López ◽  
Inés Restrepo-Tarquino ◽  
Charlotte Patterson ◽  
John Gowing ◽  
Isabel Dominguez Rivera

<p>Globally, access to improved water sources is lower in rural areas compared to urban areas. Furthermore, in rural areas many people use water from individual systems they have developed with their investments, often without external support. This phenomenon has been called Self-supply. Self-supply ranges from simple to complex systems and different water sources. Water quality varies, from achieving World Health Organization (WHO) standards (0 CFU/100 ml) to systems that provide water posing high risks to human health. While most studies in Self-supply have been developed in Africa, little is known in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This research explores Self-supply in a rural microcatchment in Colombia (LAC). Data was collected through household and drinking water surveys and analysed. Results showed that 40% of households used Self-supply systems taking water from springs and brooks. Thermotolerant Coliforms were below 50 CFU/100 ml, both in dry and rainy season, and between 5 to 7% of samples achieved the WHO standard. These results suggest that Self-supply has potential to offer safe drinking water, provided improvements on source protection and institutional support. Therefore, Self-supply could contribute to address “unfinished business”, including ensuring access for the hardest-to-reach people, as stated in the post-2015 development agenda.</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 52-56
Author(s):  
Bishnu Pandey ◽  
Suman Shakya

This study assesses the rural drinking water quality status in Central Development Region of Nepal. With a total of 250 samples collected from 15 districts of the region, drinking water quality of spring water and ground water representing hill and Terai (lowland) regions were tested and compared for their physicochemical parameters and faecal coliform contamination.None of the spring samples as well as ground water samples violated National Drinking Water Standards (NDWS) for electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), appearance, chloride and nitrate. Similarly none violated the standards for total hardness (TH) indicating soft nature of the water. The spring samples were within the NDWS for manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) whereas 15.4% and 39.0% of the ground water samples violated the standards for manganese and iron, respectively. Gravity water is found to be more alkaline than ground water. Faecal coliforms were the most problematic in both types of sources followed by Ammonia (NH3) and pH in spring sources and by iron, Mn, pH and ammonia in ground water sources, respectively. Spring sources were more contaminated by bacteria than ground water sources. Correlation and regression analysis revealed highly significant correlations between EC and TDS (r=0.979) and between CaH and TH (r=0.988) in ground water suggesting that aquifer chemistry of ground water to be mainly controlled by EC, TDS, TH, and CaH. Similarly, highly significant correlations were found between the following pairs in gravity water: EC and TDS (r=0.983), TA and TDS(r=0.853), CaH and TDS (r=0.912), TH and TDS (r=0.955), EC and CaH (r=0.898), and between CaH and TH (r=0.951).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v9i0.7074 Hydro Nepal Vol.9 July 2011 52-56


2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (NA) ◽  
pp. 291-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire F. McGuigan ◽  
Camille L.A. Hamula ◽  
Sarah Huang ◽  
Stephan Gabos ◽  
X. Chris Le

Recent events have increased public awareness of drinking water quality in Canada. The goal of this review was to examine how much information about arsenic (As) in Canadian drinking water is available. Provincial, territorial, and federal Web sites were searched for information about As in drinking water. Major scientific databases (PubMed, Web of Science) were searched for drinking water As information for all provinces and territories. Resulting information was examined for availability, accessibility, quality, and timeliness. Most provinces provided at least basic fact sheets about As, and several provinces provided comprehensive databases containing actual test results. The vast majority of Canadian municipal drinking water systems with As data show a concentration below 10 μg/L, the current guideline level. Several locations in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Québec, and Saskatchewan have localized elevations of As (“hotspots”, >10 μg/L As); this information is available at the provincial level, but may not include exact locations nor the degree by which they exceed the current guideline limit of 10 μg/L. For other locations, however, little information is available. The lack of a centralized information source represents a significant obstacle to obtaining drinking water quality data. Although difficult to implement, a centralized and standardized source of national drinking water quality data is urgently needed to determine the effects of As and other contaminants on Canadians.


Author(s):  
Sajjad Haydar ◽  
Obaidullah Nadeem ◽  
Ghulam Hussain ◽  
Haroon Rashid ◽  
Rashid Majeed

A study was conducted to evaluate the drinking water quality of Gujranwala city. Samples were collected from 16 locations including: 4 tube wells, 4 overhead reservoirs (OHR) and 8 house connections. Twelve physicochemical and two bacteriological parameters were tested, before and after monsoon and compared with National Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ). The results demonstrated that most of the physicochemical parameters, except lead, nickle and chromium were within NSDWQ before and after monsoon. Bacteriological and heavy metal contamination was found before and after the monsoon. Possible reasons of contamination are: no disinfection, old and leaking water pipes, poor drainage duringmonsoon and possible cross connections between water and sewerage lines. It is recommended to practice disinfection, laying of water and sewerage pipes on opposite sides of streets and periodic water quality monitoring.


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