Municipal water resources management: evaluation of water consumption by car wash facilities in Bauchi Town, Nigeria

Abstract

Car wash can be defined as a facility used to clean the exterior and in some cases, the interior of motor vehicles. These facilities are common in Bauchi and other cities in Nigeria. They use water as a major input thereby causing serious challenges to water resources management. Car wash facilities in Bauchi depend on municipal water supply by water board. The study aimed at determining the rate of municipal water consumption by car wash facilities in Bauchi. It was carried out by measuring the volume of water used in washing cars by some selected car wash facilities in the town using both bucket and hose methods. The data collected were analysed using statistical method such as random sampling techniques and simple descriptive method like Tables, Figures and mean. The result shows that 1,710,091.2L is withdrawn daily from the municipal water supply by car wash facilities. This is more than the quantity of water serving zone ‘L’ of the 16-zones of Bauchi Water Demand Zones. It also shows that the use of hose consume 441.2L/day and the use of bucket consume 115.5L/day which indicate that more water is wasted using hose method. Therefore, car wash facilities consume significant amount of water supplied by the Water Board. If the current trend continues and with the proliferation of car wash in Bauchi, there will be water shortage to the populace who are the primary beneficiaries.

Keywords: car wash, Bauchi, input,Water Board, consumption, volume