Main source of Water for Drinking and for other Domestic Use

Sources of water for drinking

Figure 8.2 shows the major sources of drinking water in the District. Pipe-borne outside dwelling (25.6%), public tap/standpipe (19.1%) and river/stream (17.1%) are the most widely-used sources of drinking water. Other important sources are bore-hole/pump/tube well (9.4%), sachet water (7.2%), unprotected well (5.6%) and dugout/pond/lake/dam/canal (2%). Bottled water, the status symbol of the middle and upper classes, is used by only 0.2% of households in the district.

Bathing and Toilet Facilities

Bathing facilities

Table 8.9 shows toilet and bathing facilities used by households in the District. There are three widely-used bathing facilities in the District. The first is shared open bathing cubicle used by 7,350 households or 35.1 percent of households in the district, 54.4 percent in urban and 45.6 percent in rural areas. The second most important facility is used by 4,968 households and this is shared separate bathroom in the same house and constitutes 23.7 percent of households, 73.9 percent in urban and 26.1 percent in rural areas.

The third most important bathing facility is own bathroom for exclusive use available for 3,171 households making up 13.5% of households in the district, 27.4 percent in urban and 72.6 percent in rural areas. Private open cubicles (10.1%), bathroom in another house (8.0%) and open space around the house (6.4%) are the next three most important bathing facilities. The least patronized bathing facilities are public bath houses and rivers/pond/lake/dam.

Toilet facilities

The type of toilet facility available in a dwelling unit is an important indicator of the sanitary condition of the unit as well as an indirect measure of the poverty status of a household. The type of toilet facility used by household by type of locality in the District is presented in Figure 8.3. Public toilet facilities, of varying and unknown quality, is the most popular facility patronised by householders in the district with almost one third of households (32.9%) using this type of facility.

The second most important toilet facility used is through open defecation in the bush/beach/field which is used by almost one quarter of households in the district (23.9%). Only 2.6 percent of households use water closet toilet facility available within the household considered the most modern and safest form of disposal of human excreta.

Public toilet facilities are considered unimproved because of their often unhygienic conditions and their non-availability at nights. Open defecation, pan/bucket and others are also considered to be unimproved facilities. Hence the proportion of households using unimproved toilet facilities in the district is 56.9% (32.9%+23.9%+0.8%+0.5%).

Method of Waste Disposal

Waste disposal is another means for measuring sanitation standards in an area. Table 8.10 presents method of solid and liquid waste disposal by type of locality; 68.0 percent of households dispose their solid waste at public dump (open space). Out of this proportion, 44.5 percent are in urban households while 55.5 percent are rural; 3.1 percent of households in the district, constituted by 89.0 percent of urban and 11.0 percent of rural households, dispose their solid waste in public dump (container); 14.5 percent of households dispose their solid waste disposal by burning, of which 67.5 percent are urban while 32.5 percent are rural. Also, 8.3 percent of households in the district dump waste indiscriminately, 47.9 percent being urban households and 52.1 rural households.

Table 8.10 shows that majority (56.5%) of households dispose waste by throwing onto compound while a few (0.3% and 1.4%) dispose through the sewage system and through drainage system into gutters respectively. Four means of liquid waste disposals are used by more urban households than rural. They are throwing into gutters (84.1%), through sewerage system (72.1%), throwing onto the street/outsides (69.0%) and through drainage system into a gutter (67.0%). More rural households (66.0%) households than urban (34.0%) dispose their liquid waste by throwing them onto the compound. Interestingly also, more rural (65.2%) than urban (34.8%) households dispose liquid wastes through drainage into pits (soak away system).