Domestic water quality and the discriminatory influence of socio-economic stratification on accessibility to safe water in a part of Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The status of the water supplied to households in an urban local government area in southwest Nigeria was examined. Specific objectives were to characterize household water sources, assess the per capita usage of potable water sources and examine quality of the household water in the area. The purposively selected study area, Olorunda local government area in Osun State, Nigeria (being an urban local government area) was stratified into ‘urban core’ (central business district, CBD or high population density area), ‘transition’ (medium population density area but with less social infrastructure) and ‘sub-urban’ (typically government reserved area and low population density area) based on household density and associative socio-economic status. The methods were a mix of questionnaire administration to heads of 120 households (40 per stratum) and collection of the drinking water samples from the supply sources at four randomly selected households in each stratum. The water samples were analysed for the concentrations of nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-), fluoride (F-), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) as well as E-coli bacteria contents based on their importance in determining water quality in urban areas. The results showed that domestic water sources are mainly hand dug well (55.8%), borehole (37.5%) and pipe borne (6.7%). Residents averagely consumed at most 4L of water per day. Furthermore, the investigated chemical parameters varied as NO2 (0.37-0.94 mg/l), NO3 (0.29-0.70 mg/l), and F- (0.003-0.97 mg/l). As and Pb occurred in trace quantities, and there were no pollution threats to consumers. The amount of E coli and total coliform contents were however outside the safe limits for residents, suggesting contamination of household water by the bacteria sources. The study concluded communities with low socio-economic status which do not have access to state-provided tap water source are more likely to consume polluted water than those with high socio-economic status or that are supplied with state-provided tap water. The study advocates improve urban water management for the urban fringe dwellers.