Evaluation of community knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceptions relating to water quality and safety in Luvuvhu catchment of South Africa

The Health Belief model says for communities to take part in an activity, they need to perceive the risk of failing to take part and the benefits associated with taking part. A study was carried out in Luvuvhu catchment of South Africa to evaluate community knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceptions relating to water quality and safety. The study was divided into two parts. The first part involved a population of over 8000 people and participatory tools were used to speed up the data collection process. The participants were divided into “sessions” of 45 people each. Each session was divided into 3 groups of 15 people each and each group was then given an assignment to work on and write the findings on flipcharts. Each group then presented at a plenary and the research assistants recorded the findings. The second part was based on the findings from the first part of the study. One major finding was that the communities relied on the physical appearance of water to decide whether the water is safe or not for domestic use. Therefore, the second study aimed at determining the point at which the communities would stop using water for various domestic uses based on the turbidity of the water. Samples of the water with predetermined turbidity values were shown to 1000 participants and each of the participants was asked to indicate where he or she would use the water for various domestic uses such as drinking, cooking, bathing and washing utensils. Although the communities had a wealth of knowledge and practices relating to water quality and safety, their perception of safety using turbidity as an indicator did not tally with scientifically accepted guidelines. Some participants were willing to accept water with turbidity values as high as 39 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) for drinking which is above the recommended maximum turbidity levels in water for domestic use in South African National Standards (SANS 241) of 5 NTU. The communities in Luvuvhu catchment are at risk of contracting water borne diseases and they require health education to raise their level of awareness regarding water quality and safety issues.