Evaluation of Rural Household Drinking Water Treatment: A Case Study of Rajaf Payam Central Equatoria State, Juba-South Sudan

Abstract

The supply of clean drinking water is one of the most critical facets of primary health care, the main challenges of sustainable development in rural regions. However, Rajaf Payam experiences significant challenges in accessing clean and safe water. The study is designed to explore drinking water treatment methods in Rajaf Payam. Questionnaire was designed to conduct survey on sources of drinking water and drinking water treatment methods in the area, published articles included reports from the national government and some NGOs working in the rural drinking water sector were collected. So far 200 people participated in this study, from whom 60% were male, 40% female. However, 50 critical informant interviews and surveys were conducted, with 150 participants filling out questionnaires. The results show that 66% of the community use chlorine for drinking water treatment. Nonetheless, 19% are using boiling method, 10% using normal filtration (Water settling). At the same time, 5% know nothing about drinking water treatment. Therefore, this study recommending the Point-of-use (POU) of drinking water treatment technologies such as boiling, slow sand filtration, chemical disinfection, flocculation and coagulation, UV-C disinfection, and solar disinfection to the community of Raja Payam to enable them to access high quality drinking water and to avoid chronic drinking water related disease.