Bacteriological and physico-chemical quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya

Abstract

Water is a basic human need which is required in many operations especially in households. However, this essential commodity in most cases does not meet the generally accepted safety standards. The study was designed to investigate the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water used in households in Kisii town, Kenya. Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted to obtain information concerning household drinking water quality and safety. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain 422 drinking water samples at the point of consumption from the 4 zones of Kisii town for analysis. From the study it was revealed that TDS and electrical conductivity of the analyzed water samples were within the recommended standards of less than 1000 ppm and 1500 μSCM À1 respectively. Further, it was found that 69.4% of the samples had pH range of between 6.5-8.5, 91.9% had turbidity of less than 5NTU, 3.8% had temperature below 15 C and 31.2% of the chlorinated samples had chlorine residue above 0.2 ppm. In terms of bacteriological analysis, 39.3% of the samples were contaminated with total coliforms and 17.5% with E. coli. The main finding from the study was that the household water samples were contaminated with bacteria and unfit for human consumption because both total coliforms and E. coli exceeded the recommended Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and WHO standards. Therefore, public health officers should not only collect water samples from sources but also from households regularly to ascertain its quality and provide water safety promotion education to the general public. There was a strong relationship between bacterial contamination and temperature as well as chlorine residue. The study recommends Gusii Water and Sanitation Company (GWASCO) whose treatment and distribution capacity is expected to increase 4.5 times the current capacity to improve on their chlorine dosage at the treatment plant to ensure a minimum chlorine residue of 0.2 ppm at the household and community taps.

Bacteriological Quality of Bottled Drinking Water and Municipal Tap Water in Northeastern Ethiopia

“…Our finding also indicated that E. coli were detected in 47.1% of tap water samples from the collection point which was consistent with 50% of tap water samples having E. coli in North Gondar, Ethiopia (Admassu et al, 2000) and 53% tap water contamination prevalence reported in Africa (Bain et al, 2014) but it was higher than 33% of E. coli contamination reported from Addis Ababa city (Crampton, 2005), 37% of tap water samples from Nekemete Town, Oromia zone, Ethiopia (Duressa et al, 2019) and 17.5% of E. Coli contamination of tap water sample from Kisii Town, Kenya (Ondieki et al, 2021). E. coli were also detected in 48.8% of household water storage containers for consumption which was higher compared to E. coli contamination of 37% tap water samples collected at the point of use in Addis Ababa city (Crampton, 2005) and 4.58% of water samples from a storage container in South Darfur, Sudan (Abdelrahman, 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, total coliforms were detected in 65.7%, of tap water samples from collection points which were lower than TC detected in all tap water samples in Nekemte Town, Oromia, Ethiopia (Duressa et al, 2019), 39.6% of tap water samples from Kisii Town, Kenya (Ondieki et al, 2021), 55.3% of tap water samples in Dharan Municipality, Nepal (Narayan Dutt et al, 2016), 36.3% of tap water samples in northern India and 36.4% of tap water samples in Maringa city, Brazil (Zamberlan, 2008). About 98.8% of water samples collected from household storage container for consumption was positive for TC.…”

Socio-demographic and water handling practices affecting quality of household drinking water in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya

“…The comparisons in this and subsequent sections are based on findings published earlier by Ondieki et al (2021). According to the findings, out of the tested 422 water samples, 167 (39.6%) were contaminated with total coli forms while 74 (17.5%) had E. coli.…”

“…The questionnaires were first tested in Menyinkwa area (a different nearby location) in April 2019 to gauge their suitability after which required changes were made before the real study was rolled out between May-October 2019. Table 1 below shows results of bacteriological quality of drinking water in the studied households as reported earlier by Ondieki et al (2021). These results were generated from tested water samples that were simultaneously collected with the questionnaires.…”

“…The main critical parameter of determining drinking water quality in community supplies is E. coli which is an indication of feacal contamination and therefore considered as the main dependent variable in this study (WHO, 2017). The study established (source: Ondieki et al, 2021).…”