water sources, infrastructure, space and the dynamics of ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Matthew Biniyam KursahTRITA LWR Master Thesisdistances to watercourses, road networks, the type of land cover andelevation on one hand and the environmental diseases on the other.Therefore, the stated hypothesis is only partially accepted.To sum up, the various spatial variables do not significantly influenceenvironmental diseases in Saboba district. Apart from the fact thatenvironmental diseases are becoming an urbanised problem, the othervariables proved to have no effects on the occurrences of the threemajor environmental diseases. The breakdown of infrastructural facilitiessuch as gutters, toilets and waste disposal systems, high hospitalattendants (compared to the peripheral areas) and the non-treatment ofpipe water for the town may explain why environmental diseases werediscovered to be common in Saboba town than the peripheral areas.Table 20 Correlation between RTI in relation to population and distance to majortown. ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).% of RTI toPopulationDistance to MajorTowns% of RTI to Population Dist. to Major TownsPearson Correlation 1 -0.447(**)Sig. (2-tailed) . 0.001N 73 73Pearson Correlation -0.447(**) 1Sig. (2-tailed) 0.001 .N 73 73Table 21 Correlation between RTI in relation to population and distance to roads% of RTI to PopulationDistance to roads% of RTI to Population Distance to RoadsPearson Correlation 1 -0.137Sig. (2-tailed . 0.248N 73 73Pearson Correlation -0.137 1Sig. (2-tailed) 0.248 .N 73 73Table 22 Correlation between RTI in relation to population and type of land cover% of RTI to Population Type of land coverPearson Correlation 1 -0.192% of RTI to Population Sig. (2-tailed) . 0.104N 73 73Type of land cover Pearson Correlation -0.192 1Sig. (2-tailed) 0.104 .N 73 73Infrastructural construction and environmental diseases in Saboba districtThe preceding sections show that environmental diseases are generallyrampant in the district, and that distances to water, roads, and the type ofland cover and topography have little links to occurrences of thesediseases. This section therefore presents and analyses the specific factorsthat explain the high environmental diseases (special reference to waterrelated diseases) in Saboba district. Since some clinics in the district donot treat Typhoid and other illness, in such cases, I relied on data fromthe only hospital (SMC) in the district which treats these ailments.Analysis of causes of environmental diseases in Saboba districtFrom Table 23, 94.2% of houses in the district are constructed withmud/mud bricks or earth, and only 2.8% are constructed with concretemade from cement. During the field trip in the area, I noticed that willbe-buildersexcavated mud/earth material in each plot of land theyintended to build, leaving almost every constructed house with at least a46
Water sources, infrastructure, space and the dynamics of environmental diseases in Saboba District: Using GISpit containing stagnant water near the house. This has implications onthe health of the people, since the stagnant water become reservoir forbreeding mosquitoes (the causal agent of Malaria). During the rainyseason, as water springs out from these dugout pits, it becomes a sourceof domestic water (Fig. 14).Table 24 shows that only 1.3%, 1.5% and 4.4% of the population in thedistrict have access to water closet (WC), KVIP (a type of low-costtoilet) and public toilets respectively. Due to frequent interruptions inpipe water supply, not all the 1.3% of those who have access to WC douse it at all times, while unsanitary conditions of the KVIP and publictoilets (Fig. 15) largely discourage many from using it. The proximity ofthese public toilets to the residential houses (Fig. 15), dugout pits andsome water sources place nearby residents in a health bomb. The tablealso depicts that a large proportion of the people (91.1%) use any place(free-range) as toilet. This is far above the average (75.9%) in theNorthern region.Table 23: Main material for wall construction (%)Source: 2000 Population and Housing Census, Ghana Statistical Service (2005)MaterialPlaceSaboba districtNorthern regionMud/mud brick/earth 94.2 82.6Cement blocks/concrete 2.8 10.8Sandcrete 0.1 2.8Palm leaves/thatch 1.2 1.6Wood 0.9 1.0Other 3.0 6.6Table 24: Household access to toilet facility (%)Source: 2000 Population and Housing Census, Ghana Statistical Service (2005b)PlaceType of toilet facilitySaboba districtNorthern regionWC 1.3 2.5Pit-latrine 0.6 2.0KVIP 1.5 2.3Bucket/pan 0.4 1.6Facility in another house 0.7 1.6Public toilet 4.4 1.0Free-range/ no facility 91.1 75.9Other - 0.2Figure 17 shows that more than half (50.2%) of the population in thedistrict use springs, streams, and river water (compared with 27.2% inNorthern Region), and 12.7% (dugout pits), 12.4% (wells) as theirsources of domestic water supply. Only 7.4% and 17.2% of thepopulation in the district have access to pipes and borehole waterrespectively. The fact that 91.1% of the population have no toiletfacilities (free-range) and 62.9% uses water from spring/stream anddugout pits (Fig. 14) explains the high incidence of Typhoid in thedistrict, as the human faeces with the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovarTyphi are easily washed into such water sources.Figure 18 shows that less than half (49.5%) of the population of Sabobadistrict have access to sources of drinking water within 30 minutes,compared to an average of 94.1% for Ghana. On the other hand, 50.5%get to the nearest sources of drinking water at a time of 30 minutes andabove, compared with only 5.9% for Ghana. Interestingly, 34.1% get47
Page 1 and 2:
Supervisor: Ulla MortbergCo-supervi
Page 3 and 4:
Water sources, infrastructure, spac
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12: Water sources, infrastructure, spac
Page 17 and 18: Matthew Biniyam KursahTRITA LWR Mas
Page 25 and 26: OberadeYusungaManieBilyimbaMatthew
Page 41 and 42: PercentagePercentageMatthew Biniyam
Page 49 and 50: BilyimbaMatthew Biniyam Kursah Nadu
Page 51 and 52: ManieBilyimbaBaguliMatthew Biniyam
Page 53: ManieBilyimbaMatthew Biniyam Kursah
Page 66 and 67: PercentagesPercentagesMatthew Biniy
Page 68 and 69: PercentagesMatthew Biniyam KursahTR
show all

water sources, infrastructure, space and the dynamics of ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?