Abstract:

Objective To understand the current status of water and sanitation improvement, garbage and sewage treatment, and vector control in Anhui province, and provide the basis for the government and relevant administrative departments to formulate rural sanitation improvement program. Methods 2 403 households and 480 villages in 24 counties were selected by proportional stratified randomized sampling. Data were obtained through information collection, interviews, field observation and laboratory testing. Results The coverage rate was 46.04% for access to centralized water supply and 35.9% for access to sanitary latrines in
24 rural counties in Anhui. There was a lack of wastewater treatment facilities in rural areas and mainly covered township residents. Large number of domestic, industrial and aquaculture wastewater was discharged arbitrarily without timely and effective treatment. There were no full- time or part- time cleaner and no actions of eliminating the four pests in the most of the villages surveyed. 89.3% of households surveyed were found vector organism around the house. For the 480 samples, 126 samples were detected with Ascaris eggs and 84 samples with living eggs. The detection rate of Ascaris eggs and living eggs were 26.3% and 17.5% ,respectively.Cadmium contents in 31.9% of soil samples were higher than the grade two of environmental quality standard for soils. Conclusion It was not optimistic on environmental sanitation in Anhui rural areas. There were various risk factors impacting on population health and more effective measures should be taken to improve the environmental sanitation in rural areas.

Key words: Rural area, Environmental health, Drinking water, Vector organism