Drinking Water and Sanitation Practices in North-Western Part of Kottayam District - A Cross Sectional Epidemiological Study

Safe drinking water and good sanitation facilities are prime factors for a healthy community. This will in turn limit the spread of diarrhoeal diseases. The purpose of the present cross-sectional epidemiological study was to obtain baseline data on drinking water in Vaikom, Kottayam district, Kerala, India. In this study, thirty households were surveyed and the targeted participants were mothers of the households with children under the age of five. Drinking water samples were collected and analyzed for bacterial contamination by membrane filtration (MF) techniques. 40% of the households used borehole water, while 33.3% used household tap water, 16.7% used healthy water and 6.7% depended on tanker truck water as a drinking water source. Only 3.3% uses bottled water as the primary drinking water source.73% of the water samples collected from tanker truck source are contaminated with Escherichia coli(E.Coli) and 61% of well water samples are contaminated with E.coli. For the bottled water category, it was seen only 2% was contaminated. Any presence of E.coli in the potable water means it is not safe to use. Continuous monitoring of water quality and effectiveness of the treatment processes, and following regulations, are essential to ensure that the water quality meets the set standards.