School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA.
BMC Res Notes. 2022 Mar 22;15(1):114. doi: 10.1186/s13104-022-05998-1.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 45% of the rural population uses boreholes (BHs). Despite recent gains in improved water access and coverage, parallel use of unimproved sources persists. Periodic infrastructure disrepair contributes to non-exclusive use of BHs. Our study describes functionality of BHs in 2014, 2015, and 2016 in 15 rural towns in the Eastern Region of Ghana sourced from three groundwater quality clusters (high iron, high salinity, and control). We also assess factors affecting cross-sectional and longitudinal functionality using logistic regression.
BH functionality rates ranged between 81 and 87% and were similar across groundwater quality clusters. Of 51 BHs assessed in all three years, 34 (67%) were consistently functional and only 3 (6%) were consistently broken. There was a shift toward proactive payment for water over the course of the study in the control and high-salinity clusters. Payment mechanism, population served, presence of nearby alternative water sources, and groundwater quality cluster were not significant predictors of cross-sectional or longitudinal BH functionality. However, even in the high iron cluster, where water quality is poor and no structured payment mechanism for water exists, BHs are maintained, showing that they are important community resources.
在撒哈拉以南非洲地区，45%的农村人口使用水井（BHs）。尽管最近在改善用水获取和覆盖方面取得了进展，但仍在并行使用未改善的水源。定期的基础设施失修导致 BH 的非排他性使用。我们的研究描述了 2014 年、2015 年和 2016 年在加纳东部地区的 15 个农村城镇中 BH 的功能，这些城镇来自三个地下水质量群（高铁、高盐度和对照）。我们还使用逻辑回归评估了影响横断面和纵向功能的因素。
BH 功能率在 81%至 87%之间，在地下水质量群之间相似。在所有三年中评估的 51 个 BHs 中，有 34 个（67%）始终保持功能，只有 3 个（6%）始终损坏。在对照和高盐度群中，人们开始积极地为水付费。付费机制、服务人口、附近是否存在替代水源以及地下水质量群都不是横断面或纵向 BH 功能的显著预测因素。然而，即使在高铁集群中，那里的水质很差，也没有用于水的结构化付费机制，但 BHs 仍在维持，这表明它们是重要的社区资源。
