WASH conditions in a small town in Uganda: how safe are on-site facilities?

Inadequate hygiene coupled with the conjunctive use of the shallow subsurface as both a source of water and repository of faecal matter pose substantial risks to human health in low-income countries undergoing rapid urbanisation. To evaluate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in a small, rapidly growing town in central Uganda (Lukaya) served primarily by on-site water supply and sanitation facilities, water-point mapping, focus group discussions, sanitary-risk inspections and 386 household surveys were conducted. Household surveys indicate high awareness (82%) of domestic hygiene (e.g. handwashing, boiling water) but limited evidence of practice. WHO Sanitary Risk Surveys and Rapid Participatory Sanitation System Risk Assessments reveal further that community hygiene around water points and sanitation facilities including their maintenance is commonly inadequate. Spot sampling of groundwater quality shows widespread faecal contamination indicated by enumerated thermo-tolerant coliforms (TTCs) (Escherichia coli) ranging from 0 to 10(4) cfc/100 mL and nitrate concentrations that occasionally exceed 250 mg/L. As defined by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring programme, there are no safely managed water sources in Lukaya; similar to 55% of improved water sources comprising primarily shallow hand-dug wells show gross faecal contamination by E. coli; and 51% of on-site sanitation facilities are unimproved. Despite the critical importance of on-site water supply and sanitation facilities in low-income countries to the realisation of UN Sustainable Goal 6 (access to safe water and sanitation for all by 2030), the analysis highlights the fragility and vulnerability of these systems where current monitoring and maintenance of communal facilities are commonly inadequate.