Stoler Justin, Weeks John R, Appiah Otoo Richard
Department of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, United States of America ; Department of Public Health Sciences, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Jun 19;8(6):e67257. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067257. Print 2013.
Rapid population growth in developing cities often outpaces improvements to drinking water supplies, and sub-Saharan Africa as a region has the highest percentage of urban population without piped water access, a figure that continues to grow. Accra, Ghana, implements a rationing system to distribute limited piped water resources within the city, and privately-vended sachet water-sealed single-use plastic sleeves-has filled an important gap in urban drinking water security. This study utilizes household survey data from 2,814 Ghanaian women to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of those who resort to sachet water as their primary drinking water source. In multilevel analysis, sachet use is statistically significantly associated with lower overall self-reported health, younger age, and living in a lower-class enumeration area. Sachet use is marginally associated with more days of neighborhood water rationing, and significantly associated with the proportion of vegetated land cover. Cross-level interactions between rationing and proxies for poverty are not associated with sachet consumption after adjusting for individual-level sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health, and environmental factors. These findings are generally consistent with two other recent analyses of sachet water in Accra and may indicate a recent transition of sachet consumption from higher to lower socioeconomic classes. Overall, the allure of sachet water displays substantial heterogeneity in Accra and will be an important consideration in planning for future drinking water demand throughout West Africa.
发展中城市的人口快速增长往往超过了饮用水供应的改善速度，撒哈拉以南非洲地区没有管道供水的城市人口比例最高，且这一数字还在持续增长。加纳首都阿克拉实施了配给制度，在市内分配有限的管道水资源，而私人售卖的袋装水（密封在一次性塑料套内）填补了城市饮用水安全方面的一个重要缺口。本研究利用来自2814名加纳女性的家庭调查数据，分析了那些将袋装水作为主要饮用水源的人群的社会人口特征。在多层次分析中，使用袋装水在统计学上与总体自我报告的健康状况较差、年龄较轻以及居住在较低阶层的普查区域显著相关。使用袋装水与邻里水配给天数较多略有关联，与植被覆盖土地比例显著相关。在调整了个体层面的社会人口、社会经济、健康和环境因素后，配给与贫困指标之间的跨层次交互作用与袋装水消费无关。这些发现总体上与最近对阿克拉袋装水的另外两项分析一致，可能表明袋装水消费最近已从较高社会经济阶层向较低社会经济阶层转变。总体而言，袋装水的吸引力在阿克拉表现出很大的异质性，这将是规划西非未来饮用水需求时的一个重要考虑因素。
