Background. Access to at least a basic water service, improved sanitation, and hygiene contribute to the human health and socioeconomic development of a country. This study was conducted to assess the water and latrine service coverage and related factors among dwellers of Negele town, southeast Ethiopia. Method. Two Kebeles (small administrative units) were randomly selected from each of the three zones of the town to collect data via questionnaires from randomly selected household heads (380), interviews of purposely selected key informants (40), and personal observations employing a cross-sectional survey design from March to May 2018. A Chi-square test was conducted to examine the association between various demographic factors and having latrine/tap water. Result. Latrine coverage of the town was low (45%) mainly due to shortage of land or funds and expansion of illegal houses. The available latrines were poor in hygiene. Water service (solely tap water) coverage was very low (7.6%) as a result of deficient water sources and nonfunctioning pipelines. The zones, age, educational status, marital status, and family size of the participants were statistically significantly associated with having latrine or tap water, p < 0.05 . The administration of the town has planned to build four public toilets and raise its water supply coverage to about 70% by 2019/2020. Conclusion. Coverage of latrine and water services of Negele town were so low, implying that it is not on track to achieve the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal target 6.1 and 6.2. The administration of the town should provide land to residents and search for fund sources for the construction of standardized private and public toilets. Utilizing various water sources, maintaining nonfunctional, and constructing new pipelines should be promoted to improve the water service coverage of the town targeting the national and UN sustainable development goals.

Background Access to at least a basic water supply service and improved sanitation contributes to human heath and socio-economic development of a country. This study was conducted to assess the sanitation and water services coverage and related factors among dwellers of Negele town, Arsi zone, southeast EthiopiaMethod Two Kebeles (administrative units) were randomly selected from each of the three zones of the town to collect data via questionnaires from randomly selected households (380), via interview from purposely selected key informants (40) and via personal observation employing a cross-sectional survey design from April-May 2018. Data were analyzed using microsoft Excel program and results were expressed using table as frequencie and percentages . Result Latrine coverage of the town was low (45%) mainly due to shortage of land or fund and expansion of building illegal houses. Among the available latrines, 75% were closer than the recommended distance (6m) to kitchens, 52.3% lacked roofs, 53% lacked doors, and 100% lacked hole cover (sheet of metal or wood which are commonly advised to be put on the small hole of the latrines) and water to clean. Latrine lacking households defecate at various sites of the environment with problems on environmental sanitation, personal safety and health. Similarly, water service coverage was very low (7.6%) as a result of deficient water sources and non-functioning pipe lines forcing the people to use unprotected water sources or expend much time in fetching water from others’ private taps. The administration of the town had planned to build four public toilets and raise its water supply coverage to about 70% by 2018/2019.Conclusion Latrine and water service coverage of Negele town was so low implying it is not on a track to achieve the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal target 6.1 and 6.2. This may intiate the admistration of the town to provide land, arrange loan or search for aids for the construction of standardized private and public toilets. Searching additional water sources like underground water and maintaining non-functional and/or constructing new pipe lines may also be promoted to improve the water service coverage of the town. The plan of the administration of the town should include long term plan, be public participatory and target the UN sustainable development goals.

BackgroundAccess to safe water and improved sanitation contributes to the human heath and socio-economic development of a country. This study was conducted to assess the latrine and pure water coverage and related factors among dwellers of Negele town, Arsi zone, southeast EthiopiaMethodTwo kebeles (administrative units) were randomly selected from each zone of the town to collect data via questionnaires from randomly selected households (380), via interview from purposely selected key informants (40) and via personal observation employing a cross-sectional survey design from April-May 2018. Data were analyzed using microsoft Excel program and the results were expressed using table as frequencie and percentages . ResultLatrine coverage of the town was low (45%) mainly due to shortage of land and fund. Among the available latrines, 75% were closer than recommended distance (6m) to kitchens, 52.3% lacked roofs, 53% lacked doors, and 100% lacked hole cover and water to clean. Latrine lacking households defecate in various sites of the environment with problems on environmental sanitation, personal safety and health issues. Similarly, pure water coverage was very low (7.6%) as a result of deficient water sources and non-functioning pipe lines forcing the people to use unprotected water source or expend much time in fetching water from private taps.Conclusion Latrine and pure water coverage of Negele town was far less than the national Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which targetted 100% improved hygiene and sanitation coverage by 2015. The big gap demonstrated by this study may intiate the admistration of the town to provide land, arrange loan or search for aids for the construction of standardized private and public toilets. Searching additional water sources like underground water and maintaining non-functional and/or constructing new pipe lines may also be promoted as a result of this study to improve the pure water coverage of the town. Public participatory plans may also be designed to solve shortage of latrine and water coverage of the town via continuous awareness creation.