Accessibility to drinkable water and its implications on the rural community health and wellbeing

Abstract

In majority of Uganda’s villages, people are faced with drinkable water related problems which have left most communities in fear of acquiring water related infections and hindering sustainable development. The world health organization (WHO) estimates that 411 million people lack access to drinkable water worldwide. The water accessibility in rural areas according to the ministry of water and environment is estimated at 67%. This study will examine the accessibility to drinkable water and its implications to rural community health and wellbeing in Kitholhu subcounty, Kasese district, western Uganda. The objectives were to identify the different sources of water in the community, find out the mechanisms and methods used by rural people to treat water and also understand the practices used by rural communities to protect and preserve water sources. The study employed a researcher administered questionnaire and observation and the results of the study were analyzed using SPSS. The research found out that drinkable water accessibility in the study area is still a great concern with majority of the population using water from wells and streams as the main source of water. Wells and streams were the most dominant sources of water, also a few taps were observed although the community complained of the unreliability of the taps. The safety of water from wells and streams is not a guarantee yet the majority of the community did not employ any treatment methods before using the water. The community linked the water problems to limited funds, illiteracy and ignorance among others. To solve the problems, the research recommended massive sensitization and community involvement, planning at both district and subcounty level to allocate funds to construct taps, boreholes, and underground tanks to improve accessibility to safe water.