Household drinking water storage is commonly practiced in rural India. Fecal contamination may be introduced at the water source, during collection, storage, or access. Within a trial of a community-level water supply intervention, we conducted five quarterly household-level surveys to collect information about water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in rural India. In a random subsample of households, we tested stored drinking water samples for Escherichia coli, concurrently observing storage and access practices. We conducted 9961 surveys and collected 3296 stored water samples. Stored water samples were frequently contaminated with E. coli (69%), and E. coli levels were the highest during the wet season. Most households contributing two or more drinking water samples had detectable E. coli in some (47%) or all (44%) samples. Predictors of stored water contamination with E. coli included consumption of river water and open defecation; consumption of reverse osmosis-treated water and safe water access practices appeared to be protective. Until households can be reached with on-premises continuous safe water supplies, suboptimal household water storage practices are likely to continue. Improvements to source water quality alone are unlikely to prevent exposure to contaminated drinking water unless attention is also given to improving household water storage, access, and sanitation practices.

中文翻译：

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印度农村地区的家庭用水存储管理，卫生习惯和相关的饮用水质量。

印度农村普遍采用家庭饮用水存储。在收集，储存或使用过程中，粪便污染可能会引入水源。在一项社区级供水干预试验中，我们进行了五个季度的家庭级调查，以收集有关印度农村地区水，卫生设施和个人卫生习惯的信息。在一个随机的家庭子样本中，我们测试了存储的饮用水样本中的大肠杆菌，同时遵守了存储和使用习惯。我们进行了9961次调查，并收集了3296个存储的水样本。储存的水样本经常被大肠杆菌污染（69％），并且在雨季大肠杆菌水平最高。大多数提供两个或多个饮用水样品的家庭在某些（47％）或全部（44％）样品中均检测到大肠杆菌。储存的大肠杆菌污染水的预测因素包括河水的消耗和露天排便。消耗反渗透处理过的水和安全的用水习惯似乎具有保护性。在可以使用内部连续的安全水供应到家庭之前，次佳的家庭储水做法可能会继续下去。除非还关注改善家庭用水的存储，获取和卫生实践，否则仅靠改善水源水的质量就不可能防止其接触被污染的饮用水。家庭用水的最佳做法可能会继续。除非还关注改善家庭用水的存储，获取和卫生习惯，否则仅改善水源水的质量就不可能防止其接触被污染的饮用水。家庭用水的最佳做法可能会继续。除非还关注改善家庭用水的存储，获取和卫生习惯，否则仅改善水源水的质量就不可能防止其接触被污染的饮用水。