Main Source of Water for Drinking and for Other Domestic Use

The availability of and accessibility to improved drinking water is an important aspect of the health of household members. Water sources are often classified as ‘improved’ or ‘unimproved’. Sources considered as improved are piped public water into homes, public standpipe, borehole, protected (lined) dug well, protected spring, and rainwater collection; unimproved are unprotected wells and springs, vendors, and tanker-trucks (WHO and UNICEF, 2000).

The main source of water for drinking for households in the district. The three main ones are bore-hole/pump/tube well (61.3%) followed by river/stream (26.8%) and public tap/stand pipe (8.7%).

Main source of water for domestic use

The main source of water for other domestic use. Borehole/pump/tube well (60.7%) is the main source of water for domestic use by majority of households, followed by river/stream (27.7%) and public tap/stand pipe (8.7%). In the urban areas, more households use bore-hole/pump/tube (74.8%) as source of water for domestic purposes than in the rural areas (56.8%). While a high proportions of households in the rural areas (33.5%) use river/ streams than the households in the urban centres.
 
Bathing and Toilet Facilities

Toilet facility for household by locality in the district. From the figure more households in the district depend on public toilets (47.3%) followed by Pit Latrine (12.6%) and about 28.9 percent have no facility and this poses danger to the environment and the health of the people. The proportion of households that use public toilet facility both in the rural and urban areas are almost the same, (47.3% and 47.5%).

The  types of toilet facility and bathing facility by type of locality in the district. The highest percentage of household that use their own bathroom for exclusive use as bathing facility is 28.2 percent followed by shared separate bathroom for the same house (20.9%), open space around house (16.4%) and bathroom in another house (13%). The commonest bathing facility used in the urban areas in the district is shared bathroom in the same house (33.9%) while in rural areas it is own bathroom for exclusive use (27.8%)

Method of Waste Disposal

One of the most obdurate challenges of both urban and rural areas in the district is the adoption of modern and hygienic solid waste disposal systems. Acceptable waste management helps to prevent the spread of some types of infections and improves the quality of the environment.

The most widely used means of disposing solid waste (refuse) is dumping at open public space (61.7%), dumping in a public container (16.1%), and dumping indiscriminately (15.1%). 

The use of public dump (container) is the main method of disposing solid waste in urban centres (61.2%) whilst dumping in open space is the main method of waste disposal in rural households (70.6%). The proportion of households who dispose of their solid waste through dumping indiscriminately is also high in rural areas (18.2%) compared to urban areas (3.4%).

Liquid waste 

further shows methods of liquid waste disposal in the district. The proportion of households who dispose of their liquid waste by throwing onto street outside the house is (48.5%), followed by those thrown onto compound (44.4%) and those thrown into public gutter (2.9%). At the locality level, disposal of liquid waste by throwing onto street/outside by households is the main method for urban (52.1%) as well as the rural (35.6%) dwellers. More households in the rural areas throw their liquid waste onto compound (46.7%) than the urban households (35.6%).