Over 93% homes get treated water |13 March 2013

This is stated in the 2010 population and housing census report released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently.

It says it is not known whether more households are harvesting rain water than previously as it is the first time a question on this kind of source has been asked.

“Almost half of households keep water tanks at home,” says the report, adding the proportion of households accessing treated water from the mains supply has increased steadily over the years from 75% in 1987, 83% in 1994 and 87% in 2002.

There has been major improvement in basic sanitation over the last 25 years, it says.
“Although development of sewerage systems started in the 1980s, there was no large-scale connection to domestic households. The population and housing census only started recording data on household connections to sewerage systems in 2002.

“By then only 7% of households reported they were connected. This representation had doubled in 2010. To date, only households in the north of Mahé and the central region have access to the main sewerage system.”

In 2010, 97% of households had flush toilets of which 85% was connected to septic tanks and 15% to the sewerage system. Pit latrines in households have almost phased out, but 211 or 1% of households reported to be using them still.

“Households with this type of toilet are spread over all districts on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, with the majority (64%) found in Grand Anse Praslin, Takamaka, Anse Royale, Anse Boileau, Baie Lazare, Baie Sainte Anne and Anse Aux Pins districts.

“Data was collected on household waste disposal for the second consecutive census. A comparison is made between this and the last census.

“There was an increase in use of public bins in 2010 compared to 2002 and proportionally fewer households are either burying or burning their waste. A higher percentage of households are now making compost. A few households reported they recycle domestic waste in other ways besides composting.

“Water heaters have gained importance among facilities found in the home. About 39% of households reported having a water heater.”

The survey found three types of energy are being used to heat water with 74.2% using electricity, 17.4% use solar heaters and 8.4% have gas-operated units.

“About 93.4% of households had either a refrigerator, a freezer or both, and washing machines were found in 69.4% of households.”