Community Perception vs. Biochemical Confirmation: A Mixed-Methods Study on Water Quality From South India

Background Community participation in water and sanitation is one of the prominent global indicators used to assess the achievement of water-related sustainable developmental goals. The participation by the community mostly depends on the way the community perceives their water source quality. Objective To measure the community perception regarding the quality of water concerning both drinking and domestic use and testing these perceptions with biochemical confirmation in a rural area of South India. Methods An exploratory sequential mixed-methods study design, comprising an initial cross-sectional quantitative study followed by qualitative field observations and in-depth interviews, was conducted to assess the community perceptions on the quality of water for drinking water and domestic use. Water samples were collected from 16 different sites and assessed for various biochemical parameters using standard guidelines. Quantitative data were reported using proportions and qualitative data was reported using categories and verbatim quotes. Results A total of 82 households were included in the survey. Among these households, 67% of the households used 'open dug well' as the source of their drinking water. None of the households was practising any purification method for drinking water. The community perceived the water quality to be good with no complaints but the perception of drinking water quality was based on sensorial factors like 'smell and colour' for drinking water and 'patches', and 'good lather and no stains' for domestic water use and not based on health or microbial quality of water. Biochemical analysis showed that biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand were not within the prescribed standards in all the samples indicating considerable pollution. The deviation was more in 'stored samples' compared to 'source samples in all the water sources. Conclusion The study showed that community perception on water quality matched in a few aspects with biochemical confirmation but not all characteristics or beliefs were concurrent with biochemical analysis. There is a need to increase awareness regarding water, sanitation, and hygiene practices especially among women in the community, who are the primary stakeholders.