ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF ROOF HARVESTED RAINWATER: A CASE STUDY OF KYENGERA TOWN COUNCIL, AKISO DISTRICT.A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Introduction

To assess the knowledge about the quality of roof-harvested rainwater for domestic use and determine the prevalence of coliforms and E. coli in roof-harvested rainwater in Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso district.

Methods 

Across cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kyengera town council on the homesteads that performed roof rainwater harvesting between December 2022 and January 2023 on a sample of 196 homesteads.. Quantitative data was analyzed by using SPSS version 26.0 and presented in a tabular form using frequencies and percentages for easy interpretation. Bar graphs, box and whisker plots, and pi-charts were used to represent the data.  

Results

The participants were mainly male (52.9%), aged 46-60 years (55.1%), with education level above secondary (55.1%) and non-formal employment. The majority of them (55.1%) had harvested rainwater for over 10 years. 

Most of the samples were collected from inhabitants of Kitemu and Kyengera with 17.3% each. The results have shown that 94 (48.0%) of the samples were suspected to contain total coliforms with colon-forming units ranging from 2 to 250x105/ml. The prevalence of E. coli was 7.14%. Finally, 96.9% of the participants were aware of the influence of RHRW quality on its use as well as the potential contaminants of RHRW but needed to be reminded about tank cleaning. 

Conclusion

The contamination of the roof-harvested rainwater collected within Kyengera town council with E. coli and other coliforms was high and is exacerbated by poor water tank hygiene. 

Recommendation

Treatment of roof-harvested rainwater should be done before consumption of the water due to the associated contamination with coliforms and E. coli. This will reduce the prevalence of total coliforms and E. coli in roof-harvested rainwater which would cause waterborne diarrheas.