Availability, Practices and Microbiological quality of drinking water among rural households of Belagavi, North Karnataka

Introduction: World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Report 2022 on Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) reported that 6 billion people had access to safely managed and improved drinking water source and 1.7 billion people had an access to contaminated drinking water source. Rural areas are vulnerable, because they lack access to improved water sources. Materials & Methods: A community based cross–sectional study was conducted among 415 rural households and fourty water samples were collected. Twenty main water sources as well as twenty from household water samples were tested for the presence of coliform counts using the most probable number method. The study was conducted from 1st January 2021 to 31st December 2021. Results: 86.0% were having continuous availability of water from their source every day. 70.8% were using piped water as a primary source of drinking water. Among 40 water samples tested 4 (10%) were found fit for human consumption. Enteric bacteria isolated were Klebsiella (86%). Conclusions: Seven out of ten households were using piped water for drinking water. Majority of the samples from households drinking water were found to be unfit for drinking purpose and showed various micro-organisms.