THE EFFECT OF COMMUNITY SANITATION PRACTICE ON WATER QUALITY IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES

(A CASE STUDY OF JALINGO, TARABA STATE, NIGERIA)

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Author

Presented To

Department of Engineering

ABSTRACT
The study was conducted on communities along Lamurde floodplain between Latitude 8?52’0” and 8?56’6” and Longitude11?19’0” and 11?22’8”. The study areaoverlain the shallow well fieldswhere public water supply system and main private water vending were extracted to service the entire Jalingo city. Sample points were selected among the few available functional water points during the month of April when dry season was at its peak. Seventeen water points were randomly sampled,assessed and quantified for sanitary risk using standardized checklists. Biophysicochemical constituentsof the water samples were also conducted using international standard methods of water samplings and analytical application principles. The sanitary inspection identified different degree of sanitary risk factor at the sample points, with a common practice at the dug wellsource where fetching tools were left in pools of stagnant water. All the sample points quantifiedwith high sanitary risk were noted with faecal coliforms. There were significant differences between faecal coliform counts (F2,14= 17.31; p = 1.64 x 10 -4) in the dry season and (F2,14= 5.39; p = 8.54 x 10 -4) in the wet season at 95% confidence level along borehole, tube well and dug well sources. Nitrate contaminations were localized to sources closed to either pit latrines or solid waste dumpsites. No effect between nitrate concentrations (F2,14=1.75; p =0.21) in the dry season and (F2,14 =1.65; p =0.23) in the wet season 95% confidence level along the boreholes, tube wells and dug wells. The summary of the analysis indicated that fecal and chloride contaminations were widespread over borehole, tube well and dug well water sources while all other chemical contaminations were localized.