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Effect of domestic solid waste disposal practices on quality of drinking water sources in some rural communities of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

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Abstract

Poor waste disposal practices impinge on water quality. An assessment of the effect of domestic solid wastes disposal practices on microbial quality of drinking water sources was conducted in some rural communities of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. An ecological study design was adopted using quantitative methods and a multi-stage sampling technique for random selection of LGAs, communities, and households for the administration of questionnaires to 120 respondents within four communities. Microbiological analysis of water samples from various sources was also conducted. A total of 26 (43.3%) and 16 (26.7%) households in the coastal and upland areas respectively had waste disposal facilities, the remaining percentage dumped waste into rivers and nearby bushes. The majority of the coastal community dwellers defecate directly into water bodies or swamps due to a lack of faeces disposal facilities whereas all respondents in the upland areas had faeces disposal facilities though some were unimproved. The result of the microbial analysis showed that the coastal areas had a mean heterotrophic bacterial, coliform, and fungal count of 1.45(± 0.44) × 105 cfu/ml, 0.90(± 0.27) × 105 cfu/ml, and 1.75(± 0.50) × 105 cfu/ml while the upland areas had 1.34(± 0.55) × 105 cfu/ml, 0.65(± 0.36) × 105 cfu/ml, and 1.88(± 0.58) × 105 cfu/ml. There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) in microbial water quality between the coastal and upland areas besides the self-reported health problems. A moderate positive correlation was found between solid waste disposal practices and total bacterial count (r = 0.418**), and total coliform (r = 0.397**), P < 0.01. Most of the microorganisms isolated from drinking water in both settings were of public health importance. The result obtained from this study indicates very poor water quality in both settings. This implicates the poor solid waste disposal practices predominant in these communities and calls for immediate measures to secure the health of the rural community dwellers.

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All the data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and are also available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

    Aniekanabasi Jonathan Okon, Ugbe Maurice-Joel Ugbe, Bernadine Nsa Ekpenyong & Olajumoke Esther Olanrewaju

  2. Department of Geography & Regional Planning, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

    Idorenyin Bob Inyang

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  1. Aniekanabasi Jonathan Okon
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  2. Idorenyin Bob Inyang
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  3. Ugbe Maurice-Joel Ugbe
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  4. Bernadine Nsa Ekpenyong
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  5. Olajumoke Esther Olanrewaju
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Correspondence to Aniekanabasi Jonathan Okon.

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Ethics approval

Before the commencement of this study, a letter of introduction was obtained from the Department of Public Health University of Calabar and subsequently, ethical clearance was sought and obtained from the Planning, Research and Statistics Department of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Health.

Informed consent

Informed consent was also sought for and obtained from the respective village heads and household respondents.

Patient public involvement

The research questions were developed in such a way as would be easily understood by the respondents, no invasive questions were asked, and respondents who declined participating in the study were not coaxed. The public got involved in the study during the pre-testing of the instrument and the main study as either household heads or next available adult member of households were administered the study questionnaire. The result of the water quality analysis was duly communicated to the respective village heads in order to encourage community members to adopt some form of water treatment before consumption as the quality of most of the water sources was found to be poor and unsafe.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Okon, A.J., Inyang, I.B., Ugbe, U.MJ. et al. Effect of domestic solid waste disposal practices on quality of drinking water sources in some rural communities of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Environ Monit Assess 194, 799 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10435-8

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