The role of sanitation and hygiene practices in contamination of household drinking water in rural households of South Africa

Abstract

It has been shown that various household and cultural practices might be responsible for the recontamination of drinking water at the point-of-use. The aim of this study was to do a 6 month analysis of household practise by assessing the stored drinking water quality, the source water quality, the dishcloths used to clean the drinking water utensils and the kitchen floor. The pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli were used as the indicator of potential health risks in these households.