Assessment of bacteriological quality and traditional treatment methods of water-borne diseases among well water users in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia

摘要

The purposes of this study were to assess the bacteriological quality of drinking well water and the traditional methods of treatments used against water-borne diseases among residents of Jimma town well water users. A cross-sectional study design was conducted using structured and semi-structured questionnaire through interview to collect data regarding water handling practices, water-borne diseases, symptoms and traditional methods of treatments from 30 purposively selected well water owners of Jimma town. Ten wells were also randomly selected, and water samples were analysed for physico-chemical and bacteriological quality. The mean pH value of the water was 7.2 while the mean temperature was 21.56⁰C. Moreover, the well water was not in acceptable level for drinking in terms of microbial quality as large number of diverse group of bacterial load was recorded during laboratory analysis. Accordingly, the mean cfu/ml of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) was 815.4; while the mean cfu/ml was 264 and 306.8 for coliforms and enterobacteriaceae, respectively. The isolated colonies also displayed diverse morphological and biochemical features. Furthermore, the position and distance of the wells from latrines, depth of the wells, water handling as well as water storage practices of the well water users were the major factors for the poor quality of the water. Multiple disease symptoms (diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal cramp and others) were frequently reported cases among the well water users, children and women being the most affected groups. Various parts of different plants (seed, leaf, root, fruit etc) and spices such as korarima ( Aframomum corrorima ), garlic ( Allium sativum ), and ginger ( Zingeber officinale )) as well as other materials like honey, butter and coffee flour have been used by the residents as traditional treatment methods against diverse water-borne diseases.