Estimation of Water Demand in the University of Port Harcourt, Abuja Campus
Chapter One
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
This study aims to analyze the estimation of water demand in the University of Port Harcourt, Abuja campus. The specific objectives are to;
- Analyze sources of water for domestic use.
- Assess factors affecting water demand
- Examine the relationship between domestic water demand and supply
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Water is a natural resource of fundamental importance and supports all forms of life. Water demand already exceeds water supply in many parts of the world, and as world population continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, many more areas are expected to experience this inbalance in the near future (Wikipedia, 2008). It was revealed in the 4th World Water Forum march (2020) that a person living in an urban area uses an average of 250 liters/per day; but individual consumptions varies around the globe.
Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural water resources evident in her substantial yearly rainfall, large surface bodies of water-rivers, streams and lakes, as well as in abundant reservoirs of underground water whose extent and distribution have not been fully assessed. Figures of stream discharges of the flowing surface waters are now available and rainfall, which is perhaps the most important of the country’s natural water resources, has long records which in some places date from as far back as 1906, (Orjiakor, 1985). The annual mean rainfall distribution ranges from about 4000mm at the coast to practically zero at the northern border and an average annual mean of 1200 mm for the entire country. Over eighty percent of the rains in the country fall within the six wet months (April to September), of each year. A sizeable amount of the rainwater is lost by percolation to underground flows. The bulk of the rain, however, flows as runoff into rivers, streams and lakes. From these surface water bodies and through vegetation some of the rainwater is lost to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration.
WATER RESOURCES OF NIGERIA
Nigeria is well drained with a close network of rivers and streams. Some of these, particularly the smaller ones in the north are seasonal. There are four principal surface water basins in Nigeria.
The Niger Basin which has an area of 584,193km2 within the country, which is 63% of the total area of the country, and covers a large area in central and north-western Nigeria. And the most important rivers in the basin are the Niger and its tributaries Benue, Sokoto and Kaduna.
The Lake Chad Basin in the northeast with an area of 179,282km2 or 20% of the total area of the country is the only internal drainage basin in Nigeria. This is because it does not terminate in the Atlantic Ocean. Important rivers are the Komadougou-Yobe and its tributaries at Hadejia, Jama‟are and Komadougou-Gena.
The South-eastern littoral basins, with the main water courses being the cross and Imo rivers, have an area of 584493km2, which is six percent of the total area of the country, and receive much of their runoff from the Plateau and mountain areas along the Cameroon border.
The south-western littoral basins, with an area of 101,802km2, which is 11% of the total of the country. The rivers originates in the hilly areas to the south and west of the Niger river.
In addition to the surface water, Nigeria has extensive ground water resource, located in eight recognized hydrological areas together with local ground water in shallow alluvial (Fadama) aquifers adjacent to major rivers:
The Sokoto basin zone comprises sedimentary rocks in north – east Nigeria. Yields ranges
from below 1.0 to 5.0 litres per second (l/s).
The Chad basin zone comprises sedimentary rocks. It has three aquifers zones: upper, middle and lower. Borehole yields are about 1.2 to 1.6 l/s from the upper unconfined aquifer and 1.5 to 2.1 l/s from the middle aquifer.
The middle Niger basin zone comprises sandstone aquifers yielding between 0.7 and 5.0 l/s and the alluvium in the Niger valley yielding between 7.5 and 37.0 l/s.
The Benue basin zone is the least exploited basin in Nigeria extending from the Cameroon border to the Niger – Benue confluence. The sandstone aquifers in the area yield between 1.0 and 8.0 l/s.
The south-western zone comprises sedimentary rocks bounded in the south by the coastal alluvium and in the north by the basement complex.
The south-central zone is made up of cretaceous and tertiary sediments centrerd on the Niger-
Delta. Yields are 3.0 to 7.0l/s.
The south-eastern zone comprises of cretaceous sediments in the Anambra and Cross River basins. Borehole numbers are low due to abundant surface water resource.
The basement complex comprises over 60% of the country’s area. It consists of low permeability rocks and ground water occurs in the weathered mantle and fracture zones with yields of between 1.0 to 2.0l/s
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
THE STUDY AREA
Location
The University of Port Harcourt is a university in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given University status in 1977. The University of Port Harcourt was ranked the sixth in Africa and the first in Nigeria by Times Higher Education (THE) in 2021.
The University of Port Harcourt has 3 campus and 10 faculties. This study focusses on the Abuja campus.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Reconnaissance Survey
A reconnaissance survey was conducted to be well acquainted with the study areas and to properly identify the areas to be surveyed. Initially, some are reluctant to give information until when they realize the actual purpose of the visit they cooperated.
TYPES OF DATA
- Basic demographic data like sex, age, marital status, occupation, level of education, household size and residential preference.
- Information on household socio-economic characteristics, access and sources of water, time spent daily in search for domestic water, distance covered and the amount of income spent to get water daily.
- Information on respondent’s water storage pattern.
SOURCES OF DATA
Primary Sources of Data
This provides first hand information that was derived through observations, questionnaire administration and oral interviews. Questionnaire method was employed to facilitate the estimation of water use in the study area. The questionnaire method involved designing a set of questions.
Secondary Source of Data
The secondary data was obtained from related books, journals, published and unpublished texts, documents magazines, conference articles, government ministries and agencies. The ministries concern are the ministry of water board, ministry of local government and chieftaincy and ministry of information sourced from published of the united nation, world bank, world health organization etc.
SAMPLE SIZE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
A simple random sampling technique was adopted in this study in which each element (members) of the population has an equal chance of being included in the desired sample. Therefore the total retrieved questionnaires which samples worked with is two hundred and twenty five persons.
The secondary data on water supply was generated from the state public water board, while data on demand was based on household water consumption lifestyle on cooking, washing, bathing and other domestic uses. This is because there is no rate measuring meters which would have been accurate for determination of water use pattern.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data and interpretation of findings based on the research questions.
SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS
The study examined the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area. The result is presented in Table 4.1 The key issues analyzed are: sex, age, marital status, household size, level of income, occupation and educational background.
From Table 4.1 the sex is unevenly distributed across the gender with a majority of respondents being female 68% of the respondents. This revealed that 68% of the female struggle for water.
On the distribution of respondent based on age it could be seen that there is an uneven distribution of ages across the age groups with a majority 34.67% of the respondents within the age range of 15 – 25 years
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Findings from the study indicate that demand for water varies in terms of household size which shows that the number of people found in an area determines the quantity of water needed.
The study also shows that females are more involved in collecting water as compared with male counterpart. This findings therefore is in line with the studies of Barkingham (2020) which reported that even though the water crisis is observed as a general problem, women bear the greatest burden because of their social gendered roles, which involve looking for and collecting water for households. The study equally affirmed that water demand and allocation in the household has got a direct link with accessibility of the water supply sources.
The study also reveals that the time spent in collecting water by household is a constraint to their socioeconomic activities, since the students spend a better part of their time collecting water. This finding is also in line with WHO, (2013) who reported that in Anona and Rakai district of Uganda, young men and women spend most of their time and resources in search of water, which in turn influence the productive time and income generation.
CONCLUSION
This study was carried out on the estimation of water demand in the University of Port Harcourt, with emphasis on the Abuja campus.
The study therefore, found that the study area depends mostly on pipe borne water. The percentage of respondents that source water through tap is higher that other water sources. The study also found that bursting of pipe had been the strongest factor influencing water demand in the study area base on the respondent view. While inadequate supply of electricity is the strongest factor hindering the supply of water as stated by staff of Water Board.
The study further found that, there exist very high positive linear relationship between the water demand and water supplied to the school by the Rivers State Water Board. From the study, pipe borne water supply in the study area is inadequate to meet the demand of households. In view of these therefore, there is a need for improvement in the quantity of water supply in University of Port Harcourt, Abuja campus.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made:
- The water board management should be carrying out constant repair of busted pipes around the metropolis.
- There should be constant monitoring of pipe line so as to be able to repair damaged pipes, this could be achieved by going round to check the water distribution.
- The government should endeavor to come to water board aid by proper funding so as to purchase the material needed. i.e special allocation of fund should be make available to the water board so as to improve their service.
- The water board should change their attitude of bias in distributing water to schools not to favour Government Residential Areas at the expense of the masses in the town.
- There should be concerted efforts by water corporation and household to avoid water wastage, this can be achieved by public enlightenment through the mass media and the customers also should endeavor to report cases that can cause failure in water distribution.
- There should be an extension of water pipe to cover more areas especially in the rural areas and rusted pipes in the urban centre should also be replace with new one.
- The consumers should endeavour to pay their water bill regularly so as to improve the water supply.
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