Objective Food borne diseases are predominant in all parts of the world especially in urban areas and are the main source for food borne illness. The aim of this study is to assess sanitation status and its determinants among food establishments in Adwa town, North Ethiopia from March to June 2017. Results A total of 391 (95.4%) subjects were included in this study. Around 53.3% of food establishments in the study area were in a poor sanitary status. Presence of trained managers on hygiene and sanitation (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.7–4.1); inspection by regulatory personnel (AOR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.36–22.4) and being licensed (AOR = 1.2 95% CI 1.11–2.51) were associated factors which affect sanitary status sanitary of the establishments. The overall sanitary status of the establishments in the study area was found unhygienic. Managers should gain trainings on food hygiene and sanitation to follow and improve the sanitary status of the establishments. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4435-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The present paper tries to assess groundwater suitability for irrigation purpose in Debre Kidane Watershed (45.09 km 2), northern Ethiopia. The goal was to evaluate the suitability of the groundwater for irrigation, examine the water types and to investigate possible long and short term impact on groundwater quality. Thirty six water samples each were collected in rainy and dry (irrigation) seasons from the active shallow hand dug wells. The well selection for detailed study and water sampling was done using stratified followed by random sampling technique. The number of wells selected for study is accounting 10% of the total available hand dug wells in the area. Parameters such as electrical conductivity (EC), pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), temperature and other physical properties were recorded in the field. Major anions and cations (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , K + , Na + , CO 3 2-, HCO 3-, Cl-, SO 4 2and NO 3-) were analyzed in the laboratory. Chemical data suggests that the water type in the area though varies from Mg-HCO 3 , Ca-HCO 3 , Mg-Cl, Na-HCO 3 to K-HCO 3 , predominantly it is mixed cation-HCO 3 type in the rainy season; and Ca-HCO 3 (Piper diagram) and Na-HCO 3 (Stiff diagram) in irrigation season. Dominance of Na in irrigation season and increase in Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) are primarily due to possible increase of Na absorption in the soil replacing Ca. According to the guidelines for irrigation water quality, the groundwater is suitable for irrigation with some minor exceptions. In rainy season, 89% of the samples fall under the water class "good" and 11% "permissible" whereas in irrigation season only 30% are classified as "good" and 70% under "permissible" class. Toxicity in terms of SAR and salinity though presently under control and there is no specific toxicity effect on vegetables and field crops, however, there are indications of their increase in due course of time if proper measures are not taken.