Study on the Awareness and the Availability of Safe Drinking Water and its Associated Morbidity in the Guwahati City

Study on the awareness and the availability of safe drinking water and its associated morbidity in the Guwahati city Jhankar Hazarika 1, Jutika Ojah 2 1Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, Assam 2 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, Assam Correspondence Address- Jhankar Hazarika Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati-781032, Assam Introduction Water is the essence of life. Excluding fat, water composes approximately 70 % of the human body by mass. It is a crucial component of metabolic processes and serves as a solvent of many bodily solute. The UN considers universal access to clean water a basic human right and an essential step towards improving living standards worldwide. Methods The study was conducted in the field practicing area of Bhangagarh, Guwahati of the Department of Community Medicine, Gauhati Medical College. The study population comprises of families living in the mentioned areas. House to house visits were conducted in 120 nos of households. Results In the study it was found that the source of water in majority of the houses i.e. 56.67 % is piped water, 10 % have tube well, 29.17 % have well, 3.33 % have pond while source in rest 0.83 % is stream. Out of 72 persons suffering from water borne diseases majority of them 33 (45.83 %) suffered from gastrointestinal diseases, 23 (31.94 %) suffered from diarrhea, 9 (12.5 %) suffered from jaundice, 3 (4.17 %) suffered from typhoid and the rest 4 (5.56 %) suffered from worm infestation, leptospirosis etcAmong 69 families suffering from water borne diseases 22 (31.88 %) prefer treatment at Government centers, 22 (31.88 %) prefer self medication, 16 (23.19 %) prefer home remedies, 7 (10.15 %) prefer traditional treatment and 2 (2.90 %) prefer treatment at private health care provider.