The implementation of water and sanitation safety plans (WSSP) has the potential of greatly improving the challenge of resource-limited drinking-water supplies. However, the most effective tool to make WSSP successful is understanding of the factors that contribute to hindering the implementation of these plans, specifically in rural communities. This study therefore aimed at assessing the status of basic services and determining the factors that contribute to hampering the process of WSSP in rural communities. A survey was conducted between March 2020 and March 2021 in rural communities of the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The overall results indicate that poverty, unemployment, lack of access to purified water, and inadequate sanitation facilities have resulted in waterborne diseases reported within the communities and have a major impact in hindering WSSP. Other barriers observed are inequality regarding financial power, absent and degrading water and sanitation infrastructures, and lack of protection and maintenance of natural water sources. Therefore, there is a need for community members to be educated on proper behavior and perceptions towards sanitation, including working hand-in-hand with different stakeholders, men and women from communities, and different cultures and religions to overcome these barriers, so that human disease associated with water supply, wastewater reuse, and sanitation in rural communities can be alleviated.

The occurrence of diarrheal infections depends on the level of water and sanitation services available to households of immunocompromised individuals and children of less than five years old. It is therefore of paramount importance for immunocompromised individuals to be supplied with safe drinking water for better health outcomes. The current study aimed at ascertaining the probability of infection that Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella dysenteriae, Vibrio cholerae, and rotavirus might cause to rural dwellers as compared to urban dwellers. Both culture-based and molecular-based methods were used to confirm the presence of target microorganisms in drinking water samples, while Beta-Poisson and exponential models were used to determine the health risk assessment. Results revealed the presence of all targeted organisms in drinking water. The estimated health risks for single ingestion of water for the test pathogens were as follows: 1.6 × 10⁻⁷ for S. typhimurium, 1.79 × 10⁻⁴ for S. dysenteriae, 1.03 × 10⁻³ for V. cholerae, 2.2 × 10⁻⁴ for E. coli O157:H7, and 3.73 × 10⁻² for rotavirus. The general quantitative risk assessment undertaken in this study suggests that constant monitoring of household container-stored water supplies is vital as it would assist in early detection of microbial pathogens. Moreover, it will also allow the prompt action to be taken for the protection of public health, particularly for immunocompromised individuals and children who are prone to higher risk of infections.

Groundwater is valued as a source of potable water, although it is vulnerable to environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to track enteric pathogen contamination from on-site sanitation (OSS) facilities to 70 household boreholes used by four villages of the Vhembe District Municipality. Two objectives were pursued: to measure the lateral distance between the borehole and the sanitation facilities in household yards, and to track the enteric pathogens. The borehole abstraction point and OSS system distance were determined using a steel measuring tape. Real-time PCR was used to track Shigella flexneri, Salmonella typhimurium, Campylobacter jejuni, and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) from Wastewater (WW) from domestic septic tank and sludge from pit latrines to boreholes. Escherichia coli was used as an indicator of faecal contamination. Results showed that 25% of households kept a distance of ≥50 m between the OSS facilities and the boreholes. In total, 87.5% of household boreholes in the rainy season and 72.5% in the dry season were contaminated with E. coli and pathogenic bacteria: Shigella flexneri, Salmonella typhimurium, and ETEC. The concentrations of the pathogens ranged from 2.03 to 2.12 LogEGC/100 mL. A very weak (r = −0.093) to moderate (r = −0.541) association was found between pathogens in groundwater and on-site sanitation systems (WW from septic tank and sludge from pit latrine). This suggests that the pathogens were not present in the sanitation compartment when they were found in the groundwater and vice versa. Moreover, a very weak (r = 0.007) to moderate (r = 0.525) association was found between the detected contaminants in groundwater and the lateral distance between the OSS facilities and the boreholes. The pathogens detected in all samples showed consistent concentrations, suggesting potential contamination from OSS systems' waste, possibly in groundwater, indicating potential contamination. The siting of OSS facilities at the yards in this study appeared to have a slight influence on the contaminants detected in groundwater. This study calls for an education program to be implemented by the Water and Sanitation Services Authorities to prevent contamination of groundwater and the risk of waterborne diseases.

In settings where humans and animals closely coexist, the introduction of faecal material into unprotected water sources significantly increases the risk of contracting diarrhoeal and zoonotic waterborne diseases. The data were gathered from a survey conducted through interviews at randomly sampled villages; additionally, water samples were collected in randomly selected households and their associated feeder catchments. Molecular techniques were used, specifically qPCR, to run host-specific Bacteroides microbial source tracking (MST) assays for human, cattle, pig, chicken and dog faecal contamination. Unexpectedly, the qPCR assays revealed dogs to be the most prevalent (40.65%) depositor of faecal matter in unprotected surface water, followed by humans (40.63%); this finding was contradictory to survey findings indicating cattle as the leading source. At the household level, dogs (16.67%) and chickens (15.28%) played prominent roles, as was expected. Reflecting on some of the basic daily practices in households, nearly 89.00% of the population was found to store water due to erratic supply, in contrast to 93.23% using an improved water source. Additionally, a significant association was found between water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) variables and the occurrence of MST markers after performing a bivariate linear regression. However, the inconsistency between the MST results and household surveys suggests pervasive sanitation issues, even in households without domesticated animals.

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