A Study on Existing Domestic Water Sanitation Practices in Adilabad District

Abstract

A present study was conducted on profile characteristics of tribal women on domestic water sanitation practices. For the study, based upon the nature of the research problem and objectives of the present study, experimental research design was selected. A total of 90 sample comprising 60 tribal women and 30 grass root level women extension personnel (Anganwadi workers) from three mandals of Adilabad district were selected using random sampling technique. The district of Adilabad was selected purposively as the tribes are densely populated when compared to the other districts of the state. Tribal mandals selected for the study were Rebbena, Tandur and Kerameri. Interview schedule was developed for data collection. Frequencies and percentages were used for data analysis. The results of the study were revealed that the primary water source was hand pump for drinking and household purposes, while pond and tap were secondary water sources which were available within a distance of a kilometer. 46.66 percent of the tribal women expressed that they fetched water more than 5 times a day for drinking and household use from water source, whereas in the case of Anganwadi, more than half of them fetched water less than 3 times a day. For fetching water a great majority of the tribal women and Anganwadi workers waited for less than 15 minutes at the community water source. Seventy per cent of the tribal women were responsible for fetching water (70) in the household and in very negligible (1.7) percent households it was the responsibility of men. 43.33% of the Anganwadi worker stated that women were main responsible for water fetching while in 10% of the Anganwadi workers household it was the men's responsibility. All the respondents collect water from the source several times every day and never stored the water for more than a day. A great majority of the tribal women (90%) and Anganwadi workers (86.6%) took out water by dipping glass held in hand. Only 15% of the tribal women and 40% of the Anganwadi workers had the practice of hand washing before handling water. Among those who practiced hand washing, only 2 tribal women and 7 Anganwadi workers had the practice of hand washing with soap. A great majority (96.6%) of the tribal women and 83.3% of the Anganwadi workers had hand washing practice before eating. Fifty percent of the tribal women practicing the indigenous practices like washing hands with ash/soil after defecation. While an equal percentage of the tribal women washed their hands with soap and normal water after defecation. But after defecation all the Anganwadi workers had the practice of hand washing with soap and water. Filtering with cloth /sieve was the common water purification practice observed in the tribal area irrespective of the source of collection. Majority of the tribal women (83.3%) and Anganwadi workers (66.6%) stated that they filtered drinking water using cloth or sieve at collection point in order to filter the solid dust particles. Along with cloth filtration about 44.0% of the tribal women an...