Access to Potable Water Supply in Nigerian Cities Evidence from Yenagoa Metropolis

Odafivwotu Ohwo^1, and Abel Abotutu²

¹Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Nigeria

²Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Cite this paper

Odafivwotu Ohwo and Abel Abotutu. Access to Potable Water Supply in Nigerian Cities Evidence from Yenagoa Metropolis. American Journal of Water Resources. 2014; 2(2):31-36. doi: 10.12691/AJWR-2-2-1

Abstract

The importance of safe water supply to human health cannot be over emphasized. However, potable water supply to most Nigerian cities is still inadequate. This study was designed to determine households’ access to potable water supply in Yenagoa, in terms of quality and quantity. To achieve this aim, 15 borehole water samples were collected from 15 neighbourhoods, which the metropolis was structured. 375 questionnaires were randomly distributed in these neighbourhoods using the systematic sampling technique. The analyses revealed that both the quality and quantity of water supply in Yenagoa were inadequate. For instance, turbidity values (20.70-41.20 NTU) in all the sampled water were above the WHO 5 NTU threshold; while 7 (46.67%) samples have pH values below the WHO minimum value of 6.5, indicating acidity. Similarly, iron and lead also have 4 (26.67%) and 3 (20%) samples above the WHO thresholds of 0.3mg/l and 0.01mg/l respectively. The analyses of the quantity of water supply in Yenagoa also show that in spite of the proliferations of wells and boreholes, and the short distances to sources of major water supply, 29.28% of sampled respondents used below 20 litres of water per capita per day. This is mainly attributed to the high cost of water supply (average of N4, 500 per month) in relation to the monthly minimum national wage of N18, 000. It is therefore recommended that the State Government should as a matter of urgency revive and increase the capacity of the state water corporation to deliver potable water supply to the people at reasonable cost.

Keywords

access, potable water, Nigeria, Yenagoa, metropolis

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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