Abstract:
Faecal contamination of drinking water was assessed using various water sources in
households in four peri-urban areas of Kitale Municipality, Kenya. We measured counts of
faecal and faecal thermotolerant coliforms in Municipal treated water, well, spring and
borehole water within 115 selected households. Borehole recorded no faecal contamination but
(28%) of treated tap water, 100% of well and river water had fecal contamination.
Bacteriological analysis involved the use of Membrane filter technique to isolate total
coliforms and faecal thermo-tolerant coliforms contaminants on Endo agar and MacConkey
agar respectively. These were further identified by subculture, microscopy and biochemical
tests. We isolated mainly faecal coliforms and faecal thermotolerant coliforms which included
Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus species,
Salmonella species, Shigella, Citrobacter , Enterobacter species and Streptococcus faecalis.
Demographic data was obtained by use of self administered questionnaires on residents and
water supply operators. Some of the risk factors found to have significant influence on the
quality of drinking water included depth of well / borehole, distance from possible
contaminating source, poor housing and sanitation , delay in repair of burst pipes and absence
of protective cover in wells, type of water source and boreholes.