Willingness of boarding school students in Tanzania to employ point-of-use water treatment: a case study

Abstract

Access to safe drinking water is a challenge for students in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania. Only 32.7% of primary and secondary schools in Tanzania have access to safe drinking water and the point-of-use water treatment is rarely used. The traditional water disinfection method by boiling is often limited in boarding schools due to cost and time constraints. The objectives were to assess the willingness and attitude of boarding school students toward the use of the alternative water treatment method and determine the quality of drinking water before and after the introduction of the new method. Chlorine tablets were used due to their availability, ease of use, cost, and effectiveness. Weekly evaluations on usage, performance, and acceptability of chlorine tablets were assessed on 42 randomly selected students over a 3-week period in parallel with water sampling and testing before and after using chlorine tablets. Before the introduction of chlorine, only 17% of the students were aware of chlorine tablets, and water sources tested positive for fecal coliform. After introducing the new method, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the attitude of students toward water treatment (100%), water quality (78%), and water consumption (67%). The work demonstrates the need to provide access to cost-effective household water treatment methods, especially in public schools that lack access to safe water.