A Study of Storage System for Drinking Water and its Health Impacts at Household Level in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Enough water is a guarantee to healthy life. Increasing the water availability at household level and storage facility are the most important determinants to reduce water related illness. This Study was designed to look at the water storage system at home and its health implications. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study area while households were selected by using systematic sampling technique. A representative sample of 600 females of age 20-60 years was interviewed through a well structured interviewing schedule. It was concluded from Univariate analysis that 36.0% households had overhead concrete storage water system while 22.0% did not have storage water system at home. Furthermore, study findings revealed that 70.0% households had separate drinking water container and more than half (62.5%) of the households belonged to medium income group. One step forward, Bi variate analysis showed a highly significant and positive relationship between dependent variable (health outcome) and independent variables (main water storage system, separate water storage container and household income). Over and above, FGDs showed that in urban areas, majority of the households used cans as separate container for drinking water but these cans were without faucet and they used utensils to utilize water from the container. While in rural areas majority of the households were using pitchers as a separate container for drinking water. Based on the results of present study, it was suggested that proper education should be provided regarding the nature, type and the cleanliness of the storage containers at household level.