ABSTRACT
This work on Qualitative Analysis of Drinking Water and its Health
implications was conducted in Enugu Urban. This work was prompted by the
complete acceptance of well, stream and packaged water consequent to perennial
water inadequacy/scarcity in the city. The purpose of the study was to find out
the quality of drinking water in Enugu Urban and ascertain the health
implications to consumers. To pilot the study, four research questions and four
hypotheses were formulated in line with stated purposes. Related literatures to
the study were reviewed. The Quasi- experimental research design was adopted
for the study. Purposively, sixty (60) water samples (15 from wells, 15
streams, 15 taps and15 packaged) were taken from the three density areas (low,
medium and high) of Enugu Urban. Data collected were analyzed and, result
showed that all water consumed in Enugu Urban contains coliform bacteria in
varying degrees. The mean frequency of coliform bacteria in stream water in the
three density areas did not differ significantly. Also there was no significant
difference in the mean coliform bacteria content in sachet water packaged in
Enugu Urban. Based on these findings, it is obvious that out break of any of
the water borne diseases is imminent in the city. Recommendations among others
included the policing of drainage basins by local government officials to stop
the dumping of waste/refuse into them. Mounting of enlightenment programmes on
the news media by the State Ministry of Health on water source protection and water
sanitation.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study
Safe water in sufficient quantity is
fundamental to human health. According to Garelick (1987), water is a clear,
tasteless and odourless liquid. It is colourless in small quantity but pale
blue in deep column. This liquid, Garelick said, has a potassium ion (pH) of 7, temperature between 70C and 120C, freezes at zero degree centigrade (0C) and boils at 1000C. Plants and
animals and indeed the whole ecosystem for maintenance of homeostasis require
water. Water according to World Health Organisation (WHO: 1984) possesses some
characteristics and so its quality can be assessed by physical, chemical and
biological properties. Physically pure water is tasteless and colourless and as
stated by WHO the colour should be below 15 True Colour Unit (TCU), while its turbidity
should be below one Nephelo-metric Turbidity Unit (NTU) or one Jacksons
Turbidity Unit (JTU). Water also contains some chemicals depending on its
source. Biologically, safe water should not contain any microorganism, hence,
WHO (1985) warned that the presence of faecal thermotolerant coliform organisms
especially Eschericha coliform (E.coli) is a definite indication of water pollution.
Therefore, water, which sustains life, becomes dangerous when polluted.
Thus, public health officials are concerned
with increasing deterioration of water quality due to industrial, agricultural
and urban wastes. Most often these wastes are directed into surface water
hence, Hoek, Konradsen and Jehangir (1999) remarked that while the direct use
of surface water for drinking seem unacceptable, to the developing world, the
presence of surface water for drinking is a blessing. Safe water is globally
inadequate and according to the World Bank (2004), about 220 million urban
residents in the developing world lack source of safe drinking water near their
homes. This report of gross inadequacy persists despite the United Nation’s
(UN) great strides in the 1980s. The UN at its World Water Conference at Mal
del Plata in 1979 designated the 1980s (1980 – 1989) as the International
Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (Howard and Bartram, 1993). The
objective of designating the decade as the International Drinking Water Supply
and Sanitation was to provide safe and adequate water to everybody in the
planet.
To
realize this objective, WHO: (1984:104) outlined the following strategies: development of human resources, encouraging institutional structures, provision of information system and community
involvement at all levels of the project.
On inception
of the decade
WHO observed that
the outlined strategies
were not practicable in developing countries due to scarce human and material resources.
Consequently, alternative strategies for
realizing the decade’s objectives were recommended thus:
Complementary
development of sanitation and water supply. Strategies that would give
precedence to underdeveloped population of the rural and urban centers.
Programmes that would serve as
models
for self-reliant and self-
sustaining
actions.
Socially
relevant systems that people
can
afford.
Participation
of communities at all
stages
of the project.
Coordination
of water supply and
sanitation
programmes with those in
other
sectors.
Association
between water supply and sanitation programmes and other projects for health
improvement (WHO, 1984 page 105).
International
assistance that could help developing countries realize the
decades objective were fostered to provide:
1.
Technical cooperation among countries to
promote and support national programmes for the decade.
2.
Concentrating technical cooperation of
building up national capacities and generating dynamic self-sustaining
programmes among developing countries.
3.
Seeking for and encouraging the external
financing of the national decade activities. (WHO, 1984 page 106).
Nigeria,
a member of the UN, participated in the decade’s activities. Hence, in
chapter 4, section 3c of the National Health Policy
(1988), emphasis was laid on the provision of adequate and safe water and basic sanitation facilities to all its citizenry. In implementing
this policy, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources through
the World Bank Assisted Water projects developed water schemes.
Following this, boreholes were sunk in various states of the Federation.
In
Enugu State, the Ajali Water Scheme was constructed and commissioned
fully in 1985, to provide water to about 3.3million inhabitants
in Enugu Urban (National Population Commission, 2006).
Despite these efforts, the decade’s objectives were not achieved.
Observing that potable water scarcity is a recurring problem, the UN in the
year 2000 proclaimed that by the year 2015 potable water would have been
provided to half of the world’s population as one of its Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). At the same time effort is also directed at integrating water,
sanitation and hygiene in countries’ disease reduction strategies. To achieve
this objective, each year, the World Water Monitoring Day kicks off on
September 18 with a data entry deadline of December 18. This monitoring period
is an international education and outreach programme that builds public
awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by
engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies (WHO,
2008).
Urbanization and Urban drift/migration with
its attendant problems of population explosion, overcrowding and inadequate
facilities have compounded and worsened the situation. Water supply is grossly
inadequate in Enugu Urban which comprises low, medium and high density areas.
This perennial water scarcity has prompted the digging of wells in any
available space within premises. Inhabitants that cannot finance the
construction of wells, get water from streams (Idaw, Asata, and Ekulu), which meander through the low,
medium and high density areas of the city.
Small-scale industrial concerns have also
come up with the production of “pure water”, packaged in bottles and sachets.
These packaged water have flooded many homes, drinking houses, hotels and
restaurants and are distributed to supermarkets and shops across the urban
city.
From the foregoing, it would appear that
there is availability of water, but how safe the water is for drinking are
sources of worry because consumers of water from these sources may be exposed
to water borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and infective
hepatitis. It is against this background that this study has been designed to
determine the quality of drinking water in Enugu Urban and its health
implications.
Statement
of the Problem
An average person consumes between 2-5
liters of water per day through food and drinks and 40-60 liters for domestic
purposes (Garelick, 1987). However this daily requirement Garelick stated, vary
with different communities and depend on the availability of water.
Ideally water should be accessible for domestic purposes and should be
pipe borne and distributed by water mains to points where it is needed in
homes. These points include the bathtubs in the bathrooms, the toilets and wash
hand basins, the kitchen and launderette. Unfortunately, these water mains in
most homes in Enugu Urban have remained dry for years.
Adequate and good water supply according to
Balance and Gunn (1984), greatly enhances the opportunity for satisfactory
personal and domestic hygiene and opens the way for healthy living. For the
past five years (2002 – 2007) inhabitants of Enugu Urban have experienced acute
water shortage; hence to them water from whatever source will suffice.
Unfortunately in Enugu Urban, there is no
major natural water resource (river) from which the Water Corporation could
harness drinking water. The closest major rivers are the Ajali and Oji rivers
and each is about 30 to 45 kilometers away from Enugu Urban.
The presence of coalfield in the earth
layer makes construction of borehole impossible in the city. Consequently; this
study has become necessary for the following problems.
1.
Streams that meander all through Enugu Urban are
sources of drinking/domestic water. Upstream, these streams receive domestic
and industrial wastes while downstream children are busy loading their
handcarts and wheelbarrows with jerry cans of the water for use in the homes.
2.
Wells are sited and constructed in any available
space within the premises to provide drinking water. Considering that plot
acreage for low density area is 36 x 36 metres, medium 18 x 36 metres, high 15
x 30 metres (Enugu State Town Planning Authority), the distance between these
wells and sources of contamination may be limited to available space within the
premises.
3.
Sachet/bottle water, popularly called “pure
water” is taken by all socio – economic groups in Enugu Urban. Though NAFDAC
provide checklists and WHO’s drinking water guideline to producers,
inscriptions on most packaged water do not reflect the source of the water or
the method of sterilization or purification of the water. These create doubt as
to the safety of the water for drinking and for domestic uses.
4.
Most water mains are broken down in areas that
still enjoy pipe borne water and children scoop under such mains to collect
water direct from the mains. The effect of this act to pipe borne water is
unknown.
Outpatient registers in UNTH and ESUTH show
that many inhabitants in the area suffer from different types of water borne diseases.
Though Sofola and Lawal (1983) carried out related research on domestic water
in Lagos and also Alabi and Adesiyun (1986), researched on microbial quality of
filtered water in households of a university community in Nigeria, no such
research on qualitative analysis of drinking water and it’s health implication
has ever been undertaken in Enugu Urban.
These, among others, gave rise to carrying
out this research on qualitative analysis of drinking water. The health
implications of the results of these analyses were also discussed.
Purpose
of the Study
The major purpose of this study was to
conduct a qualitative analysis of drinking water in Enugu Urban thereby
determining its health implications.
Specifically,
the study determined:
1.
the presence and number of coliform bacteria in
well water dug in the low, medium and high-density areas of Enugu Urban.
2.
the presence and number of coliform bacteria in
different streams that meander through the city.
3.
the presence and number of coliform bacteria in
packaged water produced in the city.
4.
the presence and number of coliform bacteria in
tap water obtained from water mains in the three density areas of Enugu Urban.
Significance
of the Study
From the result of this study, the
inhabitants of Enugu urban will realize whether their sources of water supply
are safe or not. The study will show whether or not the wells and streams in
Enugu urban are reservoirs of pathogenic organisms that cause water borne
diseases. Also the quality of packaged water proliferating homes and eating
houses in the city will be made known to the inhabitants. The work will expose
the lack of reliable system of piped water in Enugu
Urban and the State Government will recognize the fact that providing
potable water to inhabitants of Enugu Urban should be upper most in its
priority list.
Foreign agencies like the United Nation
(UN), W. H. O. will benefit from this work as they realize that achieving it’s
goal number 7 of the MDGs is not feasible by the year 2015 unless it channel
some effort to health education, assistance in areas of well construction and
development of river basins in Enugu Urban. Number 10 of MDGs Goal No. 7,
states that by the year 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and sanitation would have been reduced by 50%.
Data from the research would provide base
line information for future researchers in the area of Public Health Education.
Scope
of the Study
There are three dimensions to water
analysis, namely, physical, chemical and biological. However, this study is
delimited to biological analysis. This is because physical aspects, which
considers aesthetic (taste, colour and smell) according to Schweitzer (2005)
carry no health risks while chemical aspect has long time cumulative effects unlike biological aspect. Biological contamination of water give
rise to any of the water borne diseases whose effects are immediate and drastic
on water consumers.
Consequently, this study addressed the
presumptive and confirmatory tests of biological analysis of well, stream, pipe
borne and packaged water consumed in Enugu Urban and it’s health implications.
Research
Questions
The major research question for this study
was, what is the quality of drinking water consumed in Enugu Urban and it’s
health implications. The following specific research questions were the basis
for the study:
1.
What is the number of coliform bacteria
contained in 100mls of water sample obtained from wells dug in the low, medium
and high-density areas of the city?
2.
What is the number of coliform bacteria
contained in 100mls of stream water sample obtained from streams that meander
through the low, medium and high-density areas of Enugu Urban?
3.
What is the number of coliform bacteria
contained in 100mls of pipe borne water samples obtained from water mains in
the three density areas of the city?
4.
What is the number of coliform bacteria
contained in each 100mls of packaged water in Enugu Urban?
Research
Hypotheses
The main hypothesis for this study was that
there would be no significant difference in the quality of drinking water
obtained from different sources in Enugu Urban.
The following specific null hypotheses
formed the basis for the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significant.
1.
There will be no significant difference in the
mean frequency of coliform bacteria content in well water obtained from the
low, medium and high-density areas of Enugu Urban.
2.
The mean frequency of coliform bacteria in
stream water obtained from the low, medium and high-density areas of Enugu
Urban will not differ significantly.
3.
There will be no significant difference in the
mean frequency of coliform bacteria content in pipe borne water collected from water mains in the low, medium and high-density areas of Enugu
Urban.
4.
There will be no significant difference in the
mean frequency of coliform bacteria contained in water packaged in Enugu Urban.
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