Household water accessibility in satellite towns of mwanza city: It's implication to health of people

The aim of this study was to investigate the current situation of water accessibility in three Satellite Towns of Mwanza City namely Misungwi, Magu and Lamadi. A cross sectional study design was employed in carrying out this study where a sample size of 417 respondents was choosen. Study results indicated that Protected dug wells were the main source of drinking water in Misungwi, accounting for 62% of sampled households while in Magu were public taps, stand pipes or communal taps (34%) and protected dug wells (31%). In Lamadi, households depended on public taps, stand pipes or communal taps (61%). Over half of respondents in Lamadi collected water from ‘within 400m’ (51%) compared to over one third in Magu (36%) and above a quarter in Misungwi (28%). This means that most of the households in the study towns did not access drinking water within the recommended national standard of 400m as per the national water policy. More than half of water drawers in Lamadi spent less than 15 minutes (58%), compared to one third in Magu (33%) and slightly above one quarter in Misungwi (26%). The findings also revealed high willingness to pay for water services at household level. The household average monthly expenditure on water services was highest in Magu (TZS 29, 965) and lowest in Lamadi (TZS 12, 325). This could mean that households in Magu, Misungwi and Lamadi spent about 15 USD, 7 USD and 6 USD, respectively, on water services per month. When affordability was determined using the affordability index as a percentage of the household income that is spent on water, it was found that households in Misungwi, Magu and Lamadi spent 8%, 12% and 5% of their monthly total incomes on water, respectively. Access to adequate water supply was the main challenge which was cited by 73% of respondents in Magu, 57% in Misungwi and 45% in Lamadi. Time spent on fetching water was also a challenge especially in Misungwi (72%) and Magu (63%). Close to half of the respondents in Lamadi (49%), more than one third in Magu (35%) and about 23% in Misungwi complained about frequent interruptions.