Assessment of knowledge attitude and practices associated with water in domestic and dairy farming in Ranbir Singh Pura Jammu
Abstract
A cross sectional study was conducted among 320 randomly selected households in Ranbir Singh Pura Block of Jammu to assess the demographic profile, knowledge, attitudes and practices related to drinking water safety, waterborne zoonotic diseases, hygiene and waste management. The majority of (68.75%) respondents were in age group of 20–40 year, while 31.25% were of 41–65 years and 75.0% were women. About 67.19% were uneducated, or having primary education. About 40.6% were unemployed and 31.3% were engaged in non-skilled occupations. Rural residents constituted 73.4% of the study population. The findings revealed a considerable gap between general awareness and knowledge of practical water safety measures. Although 68.8% of respondents had knowledge of safe drinking water sources and 68.1% were aware of the transmission of waterborne zoonotic diseases, 63.1% lacked knowledge about chemical contamination, 61.2% were unaware of the importance of boiling or purification of water and 60.0% lacked awareness regarding safe distances from water sources. Similarly, 58.8% were unaware of hand washing before water collection and 56.9% lacked knowledge regarding proper disposal of livestock waste and dead animals near water bodies. Regarding attitudes, 65.0% agreed safe water sourcing and 56.25% boiling or purification of water. However, 51.87% preferred community level water treatment by government agencies, while 72.5% preferred local natural water sources over packaged drinking water. In practice, hand pumps and tube wells were the major sources of water for domestic (66.35%) and dairy-farming (73.13%) purposes. Although 91.87% reported safe solid waste disposal, whereas, 25.31% were disposing of liquid waste haphazardly. Furthermore, 51.2% lacked access to treated water and 36.87% did not routinely clean and sanitize water reservoirs. The study highlights substantial gaps between water related awareness and safe practices, emphasizing the need for targeted health education, improved water infrastructure, regular monitoring of water quality, and community based interventions to reduce the risk of waterborne and zoonotic diseases.
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Introduction
Water is an important component of ecosystem and an essential constituent which supports human beings, animals and plants life. In our country, almost 70% of the water has become polluted due to the discharge of domestic sewage and industrial effluents into natural water sources (Joshi et al., 2014) [1] According to a NITI Aayog Report (2019) [2] India is placed at 120 th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index. Health of humans, animals and other organisms is directly related with safe water, so safe water resources are very important in maintaining a healthy nation. In most of the developing areas, under the pressure of population explosion and industrialization sufficient wholesome water is not available and the public fulfill the need of water requirement by managing at their own level with the limited resources. It is normally observed that due to lack of safe drinking and utility water, animals and humans become ill (WHO 2023). India draws 25% of world ground water for day to day life from various sources and the most of water sources are contaminated by sewage and industrial wastes. The factors like population explosion, urbanization, industrialization and climate change influence the hygienic quality of water (NITI Aayog Report, 2019). The knowledge, attitude and practices of dairy workers and availability of whole some water is a burning issue of developing nations like our country and Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The awareness and change in behavior about safe drinking water, proper disposal of wastes, improved drinking and living practices will decrease water borne diseases among animals and human beings. According to an estimate of WHO-2020 each year 10 million people die from contaminated drinking water globally and 2 lakh in India alone. About 80% of all diseases in human are either water borne or water related affecting both human and animals (UN Secretary General Press release-2003). There is no documentary report available about such type of study conducted among these villages for the analysis of water quality.
Keeping in view of the heavy rainfall and deterioration of water bodies or different water resources of R.S.Pura block, last year, this study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of dairy workers of Ranbir Singh Pura (R.S.Pura) located in and around the faculty of veterinary sciences and animal husbandry.
Materials and Methods
Study area
The study was conducted by obtaining responses from 320 respondents of Ranbir Singh Pura (R.S.Pura) block under a cross sectional study design. The R.S.Pura block is located in Jammu District of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory with geographical coordinates of approximately, 32.63°N and 74.73°E and an elevation of 270 meters above sea level. The area is characterized by a sub-humid climate. Study Design: A random sampling technique was used to select 320 dairy farmers (Siddiqui et al., 2019) [3] from 40 villages of R.S.Pura block for collection of data on knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) regarding sanitation and hygiene of water used for domestic and dairy farming. Before conducting of formal interview a preliminary visit was made to locate the dairy farms and simultaneously to obtain farmers consent, to give a brief description on the research objectives and farmers potential benefits of involving in the research. In this cross sectional study the sample size was calculated by adopting Cocharam's formula. The duration of study was seven months commencing from January, 2026 to July, 2026 and the persons actively involved in livestock farming were taken as the study population in terms of respondents. The study is designed with inclusion criteria of respondents involved in dairy farming, willing to participate and available at the time of study and data collection. Whereas the exclusion criterion for the present study was respondents under 20 years age, old aged persons (> 65) and persons not associated with dairy farming, not willing to participate or unavailable at the time of study.
Method of data collection:
A single visit multiple subject formal survey technique (Kaniambady et al., 2017) [4] was used to collect data through interviews, conducted in the local language by the researcher using a formal semi-structured questionnaire. Data obtained from respondents was on the parameters as enlisted in table-1 to 4. The questionnaire consisted of both open ended and closed ended questions. Semi-structured questions were divided into different sections; these sections included questions regarding the knowledge, attitude and practices of dairy workers (Fisher, et.al. 2011, Saxena, et.al. 2024) [5] . It also included questions on the social and economic status of respondents, disposal of dairy wastes near water bodies, adoption of hygienic practices of workers (Tahlil et al., 2025) [6] . Before analysis, data was checked, for accuracy, completeness, consistency, omission and organized to allow for coding and tabulation for further analysis. Tables and graphs were used to represent the response in percentage. The risk was scored on a scale of 1-3, where '1' denoted mild risk of category-1, '2' denoted moderate risk of category-2, and '3' denoted high risk of category-3. This system was used for the six variables. The study was approved by the competent authority and students' advisory committee. Consent of respondents was taken prior to the start of study, and they were also informed about their freedom of participation without any compulsion. The demographic parameters were on; basic information (Age, Education, Religion, Income, land holding, primary occupation), knowledge about water treatment, drinking of unsafe water, knowledge about water borne diseases, sources of water supply of dairy farms, knowledge on hand washing.
Results and Discussion
On demographic profile data was collected from 320 households randomly selected families in this cross sectional study revealed that 68.75% of persons were in age group of 20-40 years and 31.25% were in age group of 41-65 years, out of them 75% were women. Persons with primary education or uneducated were 67.19%, unemployed 40.6% and other non skilled workers were 31.3% and rural residents were 73.4%, whereas, only 10.9% graduate, 26.6% from urban areas and 73.4%, from rural villages participated in the study (Table-1). Based on the data analysis it is revealed that majority of community members were strongly supporting boiling or purification of water (56.25%), and safe water sourcing (65%), but exhibit critical gape in awareness about the regular checking of water sources (51.87%), spread of diseases through contaminated water among the humans and animals (53.13%), revealed undesired behavioral response against zoonotic diseases. However, 48.13% perceive treatment of water at home but majority of them (51.87%) want treatment of water at community level by the Govt. department responsible for water supply. Majority of respondents rejected the idea of use of packed bottle water arguing poor economic conditions, suggesting regular use of local natural water sources like wells, hand pumps and canals and rivers (72.5%).
Acknowledgement
AcknowledgementAuthors wish to thank the Dean, faculty of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, R.S.Pura, SKUAST-Jammu for the facilities provided.
References
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