Abstract
Water is essential for life, while sanitation is for dignity. Worldwide, Nigeria is second to India in term of open defecation, with an estimated population of 109 million open defecators. The rural areas currently lagged behind the urban areas in term of water and sanitation. A survey of two villages in the Ifedore Local Government of Ondo State, Nigeria was conducted, using 88 respondents selected through purposive sampling technique from Ikota and Aaye village cluster. Findings from the study revealed that sources of water are boreholes, wells and streams. On the other hand, most of the indigenes still practice open defecation, though some of them use water closet, pour flush toilet and variances of pit latrine as toilet. Most of them still expect the government to install and maintain facilities provided. It is suggested that demand driven and the bottom-top approach where the people first believe that water and sanitation prevent diseases and provide longevity be explored. It is believed that reinventing the services of sanitary officers (Wole Wole), will help in disseminating and enforcing proper hygienic practices.
Highlights
Water is one of the most valuable natural resources vital to the existence of any form of life
This revealed that the responsibility of collecting, managing and usage of water for domestic needs fall majorly on females within a household in the two villages
To ensure improvement in the water and sanitation situation of the inhabitants of a place, there is the need to understand their choice of water sources and sanitation systems as well as the factors that influence their choice
Summary
Water is one of the most valuable natural resources vital to the existence of any form of life. It constitutes an essential element of life (Olajuyigbe and Fasakin, 2010). An adequate supply of safe, clean water is the most important precondition for sustaining human life, for maintaining ecosystems that support all life and for achieving sustainable development (Topfer as cited in Olajuyigbe and Fasakin, 2010). Access to adequate water resources is a basic human need, likewise access to sufficient and safe sanitation facilities as it is vital for hygiene, disease prevention, and human health (Ritchie and Roser, 2019; UN-Water, 2019). Water and sanitation are crucial to sustain life and health and fundamental to the dignity of all (Kaashif, 2019)
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