Problems of urban sanitation

Abstract

The rate at which cities and their population are growing in developing countries is alarming. This has got its implication in the capacity of the administration to cope up with the growing demand for basic amenities. The present cross-sectional study was undertaken to provide a description of the existing situation of public toilets and the associated factors in the city of Dar es Salaam. Thirty different public places and 750 people were selected. stratified random and quota sampling technique were employed respectively.• Different data collection techniques were used. . Regarding public places I observations were made on the cleanliness of the surroundings I availability, number and cleanliness of public toilets, also availability of other utilities. Estimation of the population size served by the public toilets was also done. People were interviewed on the subject of investigation, places they went to help themselves and their perception of the state of public toilets. Discussions on constraints in the provisiqn of public toilets were carried out with responsible authorities.

'l<~:- iii Only 14 out of 30 public places (46.7%) had public toilets. These places had a median of 2 public toilets

in use.

There was a total of 31 toilets and all of

them were pit latrines. percent of public toilets.

Water was available in ten All the toilets were not

provided with amenities, such as ablution materials and

handwashing facilities.

The majority of the public

toilets studied were very dirty (60.3%).

This was

associated with lack of public toilet attendants. The surrounding environment in 77% of the public places was also very dirty. A substantial proportion of respondents interviewed in these public places used toilets at nearby hotels, houses, mosques or churches, and were of the opinion that lack of public toilets and the state of the few public toilets available posed great problems to them. Factors which affect provision and maintenance of public toilets were found ~o include financial constraints as well as pilferage of some components of the toilets such as water taps and sinks.