Public Health Microbiological Quality and Safety Assessment of Addis Ababa City Drinking Water Sources, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Water of poor quality can cause water borne diseases by bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasites. It has been frequently described responsible for millions morbidity and mortality. Therefore, quality and safety status of municipal drinking water of Addis Ababa should be regularly monitored in sustainable manner. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the bacteriological and parasitological quality and safety status of treated and non-treated municipal drinking water sources in Addis Ababa city.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out on drinking water sources such as public taps, reservoirs, springs and wells managed by Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA). 125ml drinking water of each 2951 samples were collected from all water sources and analyzed for bacteriological by Presence/ Absence (P-A) culturing method and 11L drinking water of each were collected from 25 selected reservoirs for parasites identification by direct microscopy. Results: This study revealed that there were 10% of all samples were positive for bacteriological parameters done by presence-absence method. Consequently, 7% and 3% were positive for total coli forms and faecal coli forms respectively. On the other hand, all parasitological tested samples from selected reservoirs were free from intestinal parasites. Conclusion: It was concluded that most Addis Ababa city drinking water sources had acceptable quality and were safe to drink. Samples were contaminated with fecal coli forms & total coli forms during the study period. It needs continuous screening and treating water sources to utmost important for prevention and control of infectious diseases caused by water transmitted pathogens.