Estimating access to drinking water supply in Farta district rural community, Amhara Region, North Central Ethiopia, 2017: a community based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Water is an essential for lives and development. Ethiopia is endowed with enormous water resources potential but access to water is limited. An uneven spatial distribution of water sources and drinking water demand is big challenge. Therefore objectives of this study were to estimate access for water supply among household of Farta district, Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was employed in 758 households of Farta district. Interview and observational check lists were used to collect data. Systematic sampling technique was used to select households. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Results: The community has access to improved water supply which was estimated to be 57.1%. The rest 42.9% of the households used unimproved water sources from other unprotected sources like unprotected dug well and river. Nearly the third quartile (74.5%) of the households had access to water within a distance of 1.5 km or less from dwelling. Majority (86%) of households had no access to water within a time of 30 minutes or less. Nearly 92.3% of the households used less than 20 liters per capita per day. Conclusions: There was a significant gap in accessing water supply for the community within 1.5 km in the district. Nearly half of households used protected well water sources. The per capita water consumption of the households were extremely low. Hence local administrator should expand protected well in all members. The community participation should be encouraged to prepare and maintain the water sources.