Safety Index of Potable water in some selected Nigerian local settlements

What is it about?

The major sources of drinking water of the residents of rural settlements in Owo Local Government area are either uncovered wells or streams which are also used as latrines and dumpsites. This coupled with the acute poverty and abysmal sanitary practices of persons living across these settlements spurred scientific interests into the assessment of the safety of the drinking water available to these settlements. Hence, physicochemical and mineral properties of major water sources across these rural settlements were assessed to highlight possible associated health risk factors of the sources of drinking water across 10 rural settlements in Owo Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Ondo State, Nigeria. Investigations were carried out to assess the total dissolved solvents, water hardness, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), temperature, electric conductivity, sodium ion concentration, potassium ion concentration, magnesium ion concentration, iron ion concentration and chloride ion concentration of water samples from surface (streams) and ground water (wells) sources according to specified WHO standards. The overall safety indexes of different drinking water sources (streams and wells) were also compared for the 10 rural settlements. The results indicated varying levels of mineral toxicities for all the drinking water samples obtained across the settlements which pose grave potential health risks. Therefore, government intervention such as provision of pipe-borne water, construction of adequate sewage disposal facilities and proper sanitary surveillance by settlements by local health officials are strongly recommended across these rural settlements.

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Why is it important?

Local health demography in many Nigerian rural settlements suggests that many rural inhabitants are plagued by wide range health defects which results from mineral imbalances, electrolyte deficiencies, and toxic waste consumption from water sources available to them. While a few rural health agency maintain public health practices and epidemiological surveillance, several others do not have adequate information to discover the link between infection risks incidences and the quality of drinking water across these settlements. Hence, the relevance of this study to investigate the health safety indexes of drinking water across selected rural settlements in Nigeria. A descriptive cross sectional analytic study was adopted to ascertain the safety of drinking water via physico-chemical and mineral property assessment respectively. Our findings revealed high mineral toxicities and electrolyte imbalances in drinking water sources across the settlements investigated. Our findings also related existing data on the public health patterns of these settlements with the incidence of nutritional deficiencies and other health defects caused by mineral toxicities in these settlements.

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