Background: Access to safe water and sanitation are universal need and basic
human right, but the provision of quality water and improved sanitation remains a
challenge in many African countries including Ethiopia.
Objectives: The study investigated drinking water quality, sanitation-hygiene
practices and the potential of Moringa stenopetala seed powder for the purification of
water in Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia.
Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422
randomly selected households in Robe and Ginnir Towns. Data were collected by
interviewer-administered structured questionnaires from June 2012 to August 2013.
An observation checklist was used to observe the sanitary condition of water sources.
A total of 71 water samples were collected using sterile glass bottles in accordance
with the standard method of American Public Health Association APHA. The
physicochemical and bacteriological water quality analyses were done in Addis
Ababa Environmental protection and Oromia water and Energy laboratories. The
efficiency of Moringa stenopetala seed powder for removal of turbidity, hardness, and
nitrate was evaluated. Data were analyzed SPSS Version 21.0 for the window.
Descriptive analysis was done for appropriate variables. Logistic regression was
used to identify the factors associated with under-five diarrhea. The results were
presented using adjusted odds ratio and P-value of < 0.05 was used to declare
significance association.
Results: From the total sample, 401 respondents participated making a response rate
of 95%. More than one third (37.9%) of the respondents were found to use pipe water.
Two hundred and eighty (69.8%) of households wash storage containers before
refilling and 325 (81%) of households were using separate containers for water
storage. Two hundred seventy (67.3%) of the households had pit latrine. Prevalence
of childhood diarrhea was found to be 50.1%. From the logistic regression model,
those households having access to clean water source are 68% less likely to have
under-five diarrhea, the households having clean storage of drinking water are 45%
less likely to have under-five diarrhea in their home, and those households having
poor latrine sanitation are 68% more likely to have under-five diarrhea in their home.
Seed powder of 200mg/l Moringa stenopetala reduced the Nitrate concentration
doses from 5.49mg/l to 8.18mg/l, a 75mg/l was reduced the turbidity from 4.49NTU to
1.07 NTU. A total hardness of 427 was reduced by 7.8% after treatment with powder
seed of Moringa stenopetala.
Conclusion: Prevalence of childhood diarrhea was high and it is associated with lack
of access to a clean water source, poor sanitation of drinking water storage and
latrine. Prevalence of open field defecation was remarkably high. The iron content
of drinking water was above the range of World Health Organization standards.
Moringa stenopetala seed powder has efficiency in the reduction of total and faecal
coliform, turbidity, hardness and nitrate level in drinking water
Recommendation: Health education on water handling, sanitation and low-cost
effective water treatment methods like Using Moringa stenopetala seed should be
practiced at the household level. / Environmental Sciences / Ph. D. (Environmental Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/24083 |
| Date | 07 1900 |
| Creators | Ahmed Yasin Mohammed |
| Contributors | Sulaiman, Hameed |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (x, 187 pages) : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) |
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