Domestic Sewage Disposal and Quality of Water from Hand Dug Wells in Ughelli, Nigeria

Abstract

Rapid population growth due to urbanization which impinges the environment in most towns and cities in Nigeria, deteriorate the quality of water resources. Some of these activities include (daily discharge of liquid and solid waste as well as industrial effluent). The pollutants are discharged directly on the sources of water supply such as hand dug wells. The study showed that over 80% of household depends on hand dug (relatively shallow) wells for their source of potable water supply. About 84% of household use septic tanks, 8.9% use pit or pail latrine, 5.1% dispose of their sewage indiscriminately and 2% by dig and bury system. 20 well water samples were collected during the months of January, February, June, July and September 2011 with the aid of sterilized buckets and sent to the laboratory for analysis. Results shows that wells located close to septic tanks and pit latrines were more polluted in terms of acidity, conductivity, CaCO₃, NO₃, ammonia, Pb and bacteriological quality. These results shows that unless there is proper education of the populace in this area, the continued use of water from these wells could lead to serious health hazards.

Keywords: Wastes, Sewage, Wells, Pollution and Ughelli