Assessment of Water Supply and Management in an Urban Area of Southern Nigeria

This study assessed water supply and management in an urban area in Southern Nigeria with the aim of identifying the sources of water distributed in the urban area. It evaluated the determinants of water consumption in the study area. To achieve these objectives, a wide range of methods such as semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires were employed. Through the use of the structured questionnaires, data were obtained through the random sampling of 360 households along three major zones selected for the study in Uyo Urban. The hypothesis for the study was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results indicated that there exist a significant relationship between income and the quantity of water consumed per litre per household per day. This is rooted in the fact that improved water supply will reduce the financial resources currently expended in water and water related problems. The study recommended that efforts should be made by policy makers, water agencies and stakeholders in the water sector to ensure that water is available, accessible and affordable in Uyo Urban so as to improve both the quantity and quality of water supplied. Keywords: water supply, management, urban area, determinants, Nigeria DOI : 10.7176/JEES/9-5-09 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

The area consists of level-to-gently undulating sandy plains where rivers are few and far between. Shallow depressions contain seasonal lakes that serve as sources of rural water supply in many area. Agriculture and the road network are also adversely affected. Soil erosion has intensified considerably especially where gullying takes place. The drainage network in the upland part of Uyo is not dense, as rivers are few and distant apart with wide interfluves. Only one major river, the Qua lboe River, traverses the entire State from north to south. A major tributary of the Cross River, the Enyong Creek, drains the highly dissected terrain in Ikono, Ibiono and ltu.

Sampling Method
For the purpose of data collection, Uyo Urban was purposely divided into three major zones vis-à-vis zone A (covering major streets along Ikot Ekpene Raod and Wellington Bassey way), zone B (covering major Roads along Aka Road and Abak Road) and zone C (covering major road along Nwaniba and Oron Road). These axes cover notable roads and streets as earlier mentioned. In each of the zones, 133 questionnaires were administered to households along the streets, hereby bringing the total number of the households selected and interviewed for the study to 399. This was done to enhance representativeness. Random sampling techniques with interval of 3 households were employed in the questionnaire administration. The technique was applied because of the relative homogeneity of the households.
The study subscribed to the tradition of interviewing household heads but other household members were allowed to provide relevant information which could not be adequately supplied by the head of the households. Five households from each of the zones were randomly selected for interview which brought the total number of household interviewed the fifteen. The interview sought to extract more information on the determinant of water consumption based on gender, household size, educational status, marital status and income level.

Methods of Data Analysis
The study adopts both descriptive and inferential approach of data analysis. The descriptive approach involves the use of table, figures, charts, simple percentage and arithmetical mean in the data analysis. The inferential statistics include the use of Pearson's Product Moment Correlation in the analysis of the data formulated for the study. It is statistically expressed as: r = n. ∑ − ∑ . ∑ . ∑ 2 (∑ ). 2 . ∑ 2 (∑ ). 2 Where; r = Correlation co-coefficient, x = Independent variable, y = Dependent variable

Ethical Considerations
Certain ethical issues were considered in this study. Firstly, the respondents in the survey were voluntary respondents; there was no use of force or threats to get information. The questionnaires were designed in such a way that a letter of introduction of the study and researcher preceded the questions. The letter showed the identity of the researchers, as well as the intendment of the research, leaving the participant with the choice to either answer the questions or decline. In order to guarantee confidentiality, the questionnaires were designed in such a way that the respondents did not indicate their names and specific addresses but community names were used. The questionnaires were designed in such a way that options or possible answers were presented to the respondents to choose from and tick as appropriate.  Table 1 showed that the percentage of males sampled in zones 1, 2, 3 is greater than that of females in each of the zones. Zone 1 has a greater percentage of males sampled than the other zones.  Table 2 showed the marital status of the sampled population. The married percentage in all the zones are more than the single, widowed then the divorce. It can be observed that the married population consumed more water than the singles, widows and divorced.  Table 3 showed the age distribution of the sampled population. The age of the sampled population showed that most of the individuals sampled fell within the age group of ages 36-60 with 51.9 per cent in Zone 2, then 50.4 per cent in Zone 3 and 44.4 per cent in Zone 1. The 22-35 age distribution is next with 44.4 per cent in Zones 1 and Zone 3 and 39.1 per cent in Zone 2, then 61 and above and the 15-21 age distribution. Therefore the population sampled were mostly the productive, independent and vibrant, which showed that the 36-60years and the 22-35 age distributions consume more water than the others. Hence, the management of water is mostly done by the population.   Table 4 indicated that a greater percentage of the sampled population are gainfully employed while those with others are either students, unemployed or seasonal workers. Zones 3 and 2 have a greater percentage of traders and civil servants while Zone 1 had a greater number of artisans. The farming population were less. This showed that these individuals who were employed will have the ability to purchase water as needed and thereby the level of management of water may also be low compared to those who were students, unemployed or seasonal workers.  Table 5 showed that the household size in most of the sampled population there are more households with 2-4 household size, then 5-8, 1 only and 9above. The highest number of persons was 2-4 in Zone 1 with a percentage of 75 per cent and then zone 3 and 2. The household size showed that in Zone 1,2 and 3 there were more individuals with an average family size while the individuals with family size of 1only were individuals who are mostly single or students and this population were more in zone 2 while those with family size of 9 and above may be low income earners who could not afford a semi-detatched or detatched house and as a result were crowded in their households. The greater the family size, the greater the consumption of water while the lower the family size, the higher the management of water.  This table showed that the highest earning people in Zone 1 and Zone 2 earned between 40000 and above while in Zone 3 a greater percentage of the sampled population earned an income of between 10000 and 20000naira per month. Therefore, we had more high income earners in zone 1 and 2 than in Zone 3 where we have more low income earners in Uyo Urban. Therefore, the amount of money spent on water by sampled households in the different zones will vary based on their income level and this factor may also influence their choice of water supply.  Vol.9, No.5, 2019 76

Figure 2 -Sources of Water Supply
From figure 2, the bulk of water in Uyo Urban is from commercial boreholes which accounted for 57.4%. households. Households that obtained their water from both the private water supply made up 19.5% and those that entirely use public water scheme account for 14.5% and 13.6% is from private owned boreholes. This showed that a large percentage of the population purchased their water since it was mostly obtained from commercial boreholes. Figure 3 showed that in the three zones 51.88 percent of the sampled population were unconnected or have no access to the public water supply, 28.33 percent were connected and 12.5 percent were disconnected. The unconnected or disconnected houses may be as a result of destruction of pipelines during road construction, power outages or the fact that the house owners cannot afford the cost of connection or their lack of interest in water connection . 77 From the figure 3, we observed that 62.3 percent of the sampled population have never used the public water supply, while 27.6 percent who had access do not use the public water supply regularly as a result of some factors such as power outages, broken or damaged pipelines, inabilty on the part of the government to distribute water to such households. The 9.8 percent who had water regularly from the public water scheme were mostly those whose distance from the water source was close. Figure 5 showed the alternative sources of water supply with 87.72percent of the respondents using borehole water supply as an altrenative source of water supply, while 5.76 percent obtained their water sourcesfrom tankers and trucks and 3.76 percent from water vendors. The remaining 2.76 percent account for rainfall as an alternative, this was because it is a seasonal source of water supply, although there were other respondents who may use rainfall during the rainy season.

Figure 6 -Water Consumption Pattern
From Figure 6, 29.57 percent of the sampled population consumed between 78-103 litres of water daily while 18.80 percent consumed between 52-77 litres of water daily. The figures showed a high ration of water conservation and management. This was because the more water they consumed the more money they paid. In Figure 7, 22.56 percent of the population spent between N31-N40 daily on water and about 19.55 percent spent between 11-20 naira on water while 15.04 percent spent 51-60 of their income on daily purchase of water. This showed that in the three zones, more respondents spent between 11 naira and 60 naira of their income daily on water purposes.

Figure 8: Regularity of Washing Cloths Weekly
From figure 8, Households that washed their cloths twice a week were 48.87 percent, once a week 19.8 percent, Thrice 9.27 percent, Daily 13.03 percent and Four times 3.76 percent. The highest percentage of 48.87 reflected that more households wash their cloths twice a week. This implied that more water was relatively conserved as their water could be used to wash more cloths than if they were washed daily. Figure 9 showed that 88.47 percent of water used was for domestic purposes, 4.76 percent was for industrial and 3.76 percent was for agricultural purposes while other uses showed 0.83 percent. This showed that the major uses of water in Uyo Urban were for domestic purposes.  Vol.9, No.5, 2019 79

Figure 9: Average Distance from House to Public Water Supply
The average distance from the sampled households to the public water sources was 1000 metres in zone1 which accounted for 38.85 percent of the sampled population while in zone 2 greater part of the population had a public water source close to them. Nationally, 250 metres and WHO 200 metres are accepted as the maximum distance considered tolerable to access a public water source. Most of the respondents especially in zone 2 claimed that they traveled an average distance of 1000m to access a public water source. The relationship was inversely as the distance to the water sources increase as the number of respondents decrease.

Figure 10 -Determinants of Water Consumption
From figure 10, we observed that 35.84 percent of the sampled population showed that household size was a major determinant of water consumption, followed by the distance from the public water source, gender, educational level and income level. This showed that the household size of any population determines the amount of water used.

Testing of Hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant relationship between income and quantity of water consumed daily per household. Hi: There is a significant relationship between income and quantity of water consumed daily per household. Pearson's product moment correlation was employed in testing this hypothesis. The statistical formula is expressed as follows.  Vol.9, No.5, 2019

Discussion of findings
The study indicated that the bulk of water in Uyo Urban is from commercial boreholes, private water supply and few from public water supply. This result agrees with the study of Ansa (2014) who opined that the private sector was a major player in the supply of water to urban areas in this part of the country. The study also posited that household size was a major determinant of water consumption, followed by the distance from the public water source, gender, educational level and income level. This is in line with the study of Esin and Uwajonye (2017) who carried out a study in Oron and the result of their findings indicate that the major determinants of water consumption include household size, cost, distance, time, season of the year etc The research indicated that the quantity of water consumed in the study area was between 78-103 litres of water daily while 18.80 percent consumed between 52-77 litres of water daily. The figures showed a high ration of water conservation and management. This was because the more water they consumed, the more money they paid. This results agrees with the study of Eddy and Ekop (2007) in the study carried out in Ikot Osurua where they discovered that the quantity of water consumed daily by households was between 50 litres and 150 litres

Conclusions
The study has shown that the continuous rapid haphazard nature of development projects in the Study Area combined with the lack of adequate support for the Akwa Ibom State Water Company have combined to explain the water crisis and its associated negative impacts in Uyo Urban, hence, the unregulated involvement of the private sector in the distribution and management of water in the Study Area. The survey has yielded some useful information with regards to the spatial pattern of water distribution in the Study Area. It was shown that there is an inequitable distribution of water not only spatially between users in a given location in Uyo Urban but also temporarily between users over time. On the determinants of water consumption in the Study Area, it was evaluated that the Per Capita Volume of water consumed per day varied from zone to zone. It was also shown that the volume of water consumed was directly proportional to the household's level of income, educational status and average number of persons per household.
Finally, many researchers have shown that human survival is dependent on water. This necessity of life has been ranked by experts as second only to oxygen. This implies, clean water should reach every person irrespective of their location and social status. On this score, the distribution and management of water, which was largely controlled by the public sector, although adjudged clean as compared to the private boreholes, were inundated with challenges impeding it from getting to the poor.