Main Source of Water for Drinking and for other Domestic Use

Table 8.10 shows that 35.2 percent of households use river/ stream as main source for drinking water, followed by bore-hole/pump/tube well (23.4%). The main source of drinking water for urban households is pipe-born outside dwelling (44.8%) whilst it constitutes a mere 15.4 percent for households in rural areas. Rivers/ streams constitute 37.9 percent of main source of drinking water for rural households but it constitutes only 1.6 percent of source of drinking water for urban households. This means a large proportion of households in the district still do not have access to improved source of drinking water.

The source of water supply particularly for drinking has a tremendous effect on burden of diseases. For instance, one of the main health benefits of clean drinking water supply is a reduction in diarrhoea. The source of water for domestic use was similar to drinking water except 11.5 percent of urban households that use protected well for other domestic use. It is obvious that reliance on borehole/pump/tube well is more prevalent in the rural localities of the district.

Bathing and Toilet Facilities

This section deals with types of toilet and bathing facilities used by households in the  Amenfi East District. The data in Table 8.11 shows that 48.4 percent of households use pit latrine followed by public toilet (WC/KVIP/Pit Pan, etc.) (31.0%). The table further shows the use of bush/beach/field by 13.6 percent of the population in the district and 4.7 percent using KVIP. W.C. use is very low with only 1.7 percent of households in the district using that facility. Similar pattern is seen in the rural and urban localities with pit latrine recording 48.8 percent and 43.7 percent respectively for the rural and urban areas. Public toilet is next with 31.2 and 28.9 percent for rural and urban localities.

The bathing facilities in the  Amenfi East are also presented in Table 8.11. Over one-third of households in the district (36.7%) own bathroom for exclusive use and 30.7 percent use shared separate bathroom in the same house. Households that use shared open cubicle constitute 10.9 percent. Next is households that use bathroom in another house (8.4%) and open space around house (7.2%). The same trend is observed in the urban and rural areas. More than half (54.7%) of the households in urban localities use shared separate bathroom in the same house as compared to 28.7 percent of households in rural localities who use shared separate room in same house. And 38.3 percent of households in rural areas own bathroom for exclusive use compared to 16.7 percent urban households who own bathroom for exclusive use

Method of Waste Disposal

Table 8.12 presents different methods of solid and liquid waste disposal by households in the district. The most common method of disposal of solid waste is dumping in a public site (54.3%), followed by dumping indiscriminately (18.5%). Public dump in containers is practiced by 14.9 percent of the households Burning is also used by some households (6.7%). Public dump (container) is practiced by 70.3 percent of urban households and public dumping in open space done by 14.2 percent of urban households. Most rural households (57.5%) dispose their solid waste by dumping at open space publicly with only 10.4 percent of rural households using public dump in container and 19.6 percent dumping indiscriminately.

For liquid waste disposal, 46.4 percent of all households in the district throw their liquid waste unto their compound and 28.4 percent throw their liquid waste onto the street/outside. Whereas 40.5 percent of urban households throw their liquid waste into gutters, 48.1 percent of rural households throw onto compound.