Rapid assessment of drinking-water quality in the - WHO/UNICEF ...

Table 3.12 Responses to sanitary risk questions for household piped water
in Jordan
Sanitary risk inspection question
Frequency of affirmative response
(%)
1. Is the main source tap located outside the house 27.3
2. Is the water stored in a container (including rooftop tanks or
51.3
underground tanks) inside the house/building
3. Are any taps leaking or damaged 14.9
4. Are any taps shared with other households 0.0
5. Is the area around the main source tap insanitary 1.3
6. Are there any leaks in the household pipes 6.5
7. Do animals have access to the area surrounding the pipe 1.3
8. Have users reported pipe breaks in the last week 22.1
9. Has the water supply been interrupted in the last week 50.0
10. Is the water obtained from more than one source 0.0
Total number of samples = 155
3.6 Risk-to-health analysis for Jordanian utility piped water supplies
The risk-to-health analysis indicates the potential risk to health by comparing the sanitary risk score
with the bacterial count (Table 3.13). For a given sample site, a very low risk score and a very low
bacterial count indicate a very low risk to health. As the risk score, the bacterial count, or both
increase, the risk to health also increases. The RADWQ results for Jordan show a very low risk to
health in 75.3% of the piped water supplies analysed, and a low risk to health in the remaining 24.7%.
Table 3.13 Risk-to-health analysis for thermotolerant coliforms,
Jordanian utility piped water supplies a
Sanitary
inspection
score
Thermotolerant coliform count
(cfu/100 ml)
Risk
category
Number
of
supplies
Proportion
of total
(%)
100 Very low 1233 75.3
0–2 1233 1 0 0 Low 405 24.7
3–5 404 0 0 0 Medium 0 0
6–8 0 0 0 0 High 0 0
9–10 0 0 0 0
a
Risk-to-health categories: very low ( ); low ( ); medium ( ); high ( ).
3.7 Analysis of proxy parameters
A proxy analysis for bacteria was not possible because bacterial counts were