Water Supply Accessibility and Associated Factors Among Households of Jigjiga Town, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Access to improved water source for drinking and other domestic uses is a major developmental challenge in many developing countries like Ethiopia due to its different geological formations and climatic conditions water distribution is uneven spatial and temporal across Ethiopia country. Even though accessible water supply is a critical issue to ensure the quality of life there no study conduct on Water accessibility in Jigjiga town before, therefore this study was aimed to assess the accessibility of water supply and associated factors among residents of town on May 2016. Community based cross sectional study design was used and 408 households and 14 key informant was randomly and purposive selected for quantitative and qualitative approaches respectively. All independent variables with p- value of < 0.3 at bivariate analysis were included in multivariate model to determine the predictors of the outcome variable, and to control the confounding factors. Overall 56.7% of households reported using an improved water source as the main source of drinking water supply within recommended distance and only 35.2% of households consume 20 liters per person per day and less than half households (44.8%) affordable to water supply access (pay less than five percent of their income). Combining these three indicators results only a fifth of households (19%) of households accessible to water supply that meet standard. Head of household with higher level of education [(AOR=4.2, 95% CI (1.0, 18.06)] and those having private pipe water supply [(AOR=19.1, 95% CI: (5.1, 71.39)] were identified as positively significant associated factors with water accessibility compared to those who cannot read and write and those that share water from neighbor pipe respectively. Access to water supply in the study area was very low. Therefore, those local authorities must pay special emphasis to improve accessibility and reliability of water supply and closely supervise and monitor private water vendors. Further in-depth studies should also be encouraged to look for improved interventions.