Perception of Drinking Water and its Associated Diseases in the Residents of Hyderabad Sindh Pakistan

Abstract

t Increasing evidence suggest the public concern over drinking tap water from distribution system. Majority of people in Pakistan rely on drinking tap water. Poor quality of tap water might cause number of water borne diseases. However, whether people are aware about the quality of tap water and its associated diseases has not been sufficiently studied in Pakistan. To determine the perception of residents living in the urbanized localities of Hyderabad about the quality of drinking water. A survey based cross sectional study was carried out using interview based structured questionnaire. Questionnaire consisted of information on sociodemographic distribution, type of drinking water, health risk associated with drinking poor quality of water and the level of awareness amongst the respondents. Out of 276, the vast majority of respondents (42.8%) were using treated water, 34% were using untreated drinking water, only 9% of the respondents were using the ground water and the rest of them (14.2%) using bottled water as the source of drinking water. Water if contaminated can cause number of diseases. Only 34.8% reported as not having any diseases due to drinking water, however, 65.2% reported various types of diseases due to use of poor quality drinking water. The highest reported disease 29.7% was diarrhea. Nearly half of the subjects (51.5%) studied were aware about water borne diseases. This study puts an insight into quality of drinking water and the perception of respondents about water related diseases. This will help in making public health policies.