Household Perceptions about Drinking Water Quality and Human Health: A Comparative Analysis of Urban and Rural Areas in Pakistan

Abstract

Public awareness about safe drinking water plays a significant role in household choices for drinking water sources and the prevention measures of water contamination. The present study was aimed to explore the awareness of households about groundwater quality and investigate the incidence of waterborne diseases in comparison with urban and rural households. Primary data were collected from 600 households by using the stratified random sampling technique. To analyze the outcomes descriptive and graphical approaches were used, however, to check the association between water sources and waterborne diseases bi-variate techniques were employed. It was found that the households belonging to urban localities were more aware about health risks associated with drinking water quality. Outcomes disclosed that on an average 48.8% of the household’s get affected from drinking water quality and face waterborne diseases, however, the incidence were greater (49.7%) in rural households compared to (48.0%) urban households. Findings also revealed that on an average 58.8% of the households suffered from belly pain and stomach problems and its incidence were 60.4% and 57.4% in rural and urban areas, respectively. Results disclosed that household’s income and medical expenditures were significantly associated with drinking water facility. It is suggested that the awareness about water quality should be disseminated among households in order to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases.