Safe drinking water and satisfaction with environmental quality of life in some oil and gas industry impacted cities of Nigeria

Byline: E. O. Ejechi (1), B. O. Ejechi (2,3) Keywords: Sachet water; Borehole; Coliforms; Cities; Oil; Environment; Quality of life Abstract: The availability and safety of drinking water and the environmental quality of life was investigated in five cities located in an oil-producing area of Nigeria using questionnaire-based scales, discussion and laboratory tests. Polythene-packaged sachet water and commercial and non-commercial private boreholes largely met the drinking water requirement of the cities. Consumption of sachet water was high (14.0--20.0 points vs. 25.0 points) but regression analysis indicated strong negative relationships with income group ([beta] = -0.75, P < 0.005) and educational level ([beta] = -0.77, P < 0.005) of respondents (658). Private borehole water was prevalent (18.7--19.9 vs. 20.0) while public water supplies were almost non-existent (4.8--5.6 vs. 20.0) in the cities. Vulnerability to contamination in all water sources was indicated following unacceptable counts of total and faecal coliform bacteria in 10--62.5 and 3--25% of samples, respectfully. Respondents were not satisfied with environmental quality of life indicated by the quality of housing, school, health services, refuse disposal, recreation, streetlight, transport and police (3.43--4.01 vs. 10). It is concluded that modernization and industrialization due to the oil and gas industries, tended to increase individualization to the negligence of common services as evidenced by the preponderance of private boreholes and sachet water. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Sociology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria (2) College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State, Nigeria (3) Department of Microbiology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria Article History: Registration Date: 02/01/2007 Received Date: 10/11/2006 Accepted Date: 02/01/2007 Online Date: 09/02/2007