Main Source of Water for Drinking and for other Domestic Use

Safe water is life and its importance in health and sanitation cannot be over-emphasized. The affordability and accessibility to potable drinking water is an important aspect of the health of household members.

Main source of drinking water for household

The main sources of water for drinking in the district are boreholes representing 72.1 percent, followed by pipe borne outside dwelling (9.8%). About 6.7 percent of households use pipe borne inside dwelling water for drinking and 4.5 percent of households use public taps/stand pipes for drinking as indicated in Table 8.11.

The table shows that majority of the households in the rural areas (80.6%) depend on boreholes/pump/tube wells as their source of drinking water with just a few in the urban sector (30.7%). Comparatively, there are more households in the urban areas than that of the rural areas who depend on pipe borne inside dwelling and pipe borne outside dwelling as source of drinking water.

Main source of water for other domestic use of household

The pattern of sources of water for other domestic uses by households is similar to their sources of drinking water with the exception of sachet water. A sizable proportion of households depend on boreholes (71.3%), pipe water (20.5%) and protected well (3.2%) as source of water for other domestic use. Most communities along the river/stream (2.2%) use it as their major source of water for other domestic uses. Households that depend on rain water, protected spring and unprotected well for other domestic uses represents 0.1, 0.2 and 2.2 percent respectively.

From the table, it can further be observed that a greater proportion of households in the rural areas (79.5%) of the district use borehole/pump/tube well for other domestic purposes as compared to the urban areas (30,8%). Majority of households in the urban sector use pipe borne inside dwelling for their other domestic purposes as compared to that of the rural areas.

Toilet and bathing facilities

Access to toilet and bathing facilities enhances the livelihood of people and also improves upon good sanitation and hygiene practices in various households in the district and the country as a whole.

Toilet facilities used by households

Table 8.13 indicates that out of the total households, 15.0 percent of the households use Pit Latrine, 6.9 percent use KVIP and 1.9 percent depend on WC. However, comparatively high proportions (70.5%) of households have no toilet facilities and defecate in the bush. This can be dangerous especially in the night as people venture into the bush and during rainy season as the residue may be washed by run offs into the main streams which are sources of water supply for some households.

From the table below, it can be realized that, 75.7 percent of the households in the rural areas have no toilet facilities and thus defecate in the bush/beach/field as compared to that of 45.2 in the urban areas. Furthermore, 15.5 percent of the 

households in the rural areas use pit latrines while that of the urban areas is 12.5 percent.

Bathing facility used by household

Bathing facilities, indicated in Table 8.14, shows that 50.9 percent of households own bathrooms for exclusive use, followed by 16.2 percent of households who share separate bathrooms in the same house. It is again shown in the table that 0.6 percent of households use bath rooms in other houses. Households using private open cubicles, open space around house and those who share open cubicles are 14.1, 6.9 and 10.8 percent respectively. A relatively low proportion of households use public bath house (0.4%).

A greater proportion of the households in the rural areas (53.2%) have bathrooms for exclusive use as compared to those in the urban areas (39.4%). There are more private open cubicles used for bathing by households in the rural areas as compared to that of the urban areas.

Method of Waste Disposal

Method of solid waste disposal

Table 8.15 shows that in the Nandom District, most households 49.7 percent dispose of their solid waste indiscriminately while 21.0 percent households dispose their solid waste in open space at public dumps. The proportions of households that have their solid waste collected or burned are 8.8 and 6.2 percent. Households that buried their solid waste constitute 8.1 percent.

A greater proportion of households in the rural than urban areas dispose of their solid indiscriminately. This is to say that, there are more urban households (36.5%) that dispose of their solid waste into a public dump as compared to that of the rural, 17.8 percent.

Method of liquid waste disposal by household

Table 8.16 again shows that, more than half of the households (55%) throw their liquid waste onto the street/outside of their homes. Another 30.1 percent of households throw their liquid waste onto the compounds of their homes, while 8.4 percent throw their liquid waste through drainage systems into a gutter. Households that dispose their liquid wastes through sewerage systems and drainage systems into a pit are 1.1 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.

From the table, it can be revealed that, the predominant method of liquid waste disposal in the rural (64.4%) and urban (64.2%) areas is by throwing the liquid waste onto the street/ outside. However, just a few urban (5.4%) than rural (1.4) households throw their liquid waste through a drainage system into the gutter.