Evaluation and Coliform Bacterial Contamination of Public Toilets at the Port of Entry in Chiang Mai International Airport

Abstract

     The objectives of this survey research were to evaluation the standards of public toilets at the port of entry in Chiang Mai International Airport 210 toilets in 19 test point, compared with the national standard of public toilets (HAS); and assess coliform bacteria contamination using coliform bacteria test (SI-2) with 190 samples. The instruments for data collection consisted of three parts: preliminary information of the toilets, physical aspects of the toilets and biological contamination of the toilets. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, and T-test statistic (Independent t - test).
     The research found that 52.63% of the toilets in Chiang Mai International Airport passed the HAS standards while 47.37% did not. However, 68.42% passed the Healthy Standard (Healthy: H) while 31.58% did not; 57.89% passed the Accessibility Standard (Accessibility: A) while 42.11% did not; and 84.21% passed the Safety Standard (Safety: S) while 15.79% did not. A survey after providing an improvement guideline to the airport owners reveals that 100.00% passed the standards (HAS). For the Coliform Bacteria, higher contamination was found in male toilets than the female’s (25.26% and 6.32%, respectively). Especially, toilet seat and spray lines found that the highest bacteria contamination was 34.21 and 21.05, respectively.

When considered the relationship between Coliform Bacteria contamination of male and female toilets at Chiang Mai International Airport found that the female toilets had the highest average number of uncontaminated spots, 17.80±2.17 points (93.68%), while the male Toilets had average number of uncontaminated points was 14.20±2.59 points (74.74%), They were statistically significant (P<0.05).