Water quality issues in developing countries – A case study of Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

To describe water as the engine of life will not constitute an overstatement. This is because water in its various forms, accounts for more than 70 per cent of the entire earth surface and all life forms regardless of their habitat depend on this abundant resource for their continuous existence. However, as huge as this vital resource is, only small percentage of its natural form could be readily used for drinking and sanitation purposes by man. These are normally stored up in repositories and embankments such as the aquifers, lakes, rivers and other surface freshwater bodies. Due to the increasing influence of natural ev ents and anthropogenic activities on these natural water sources, the pristine characteristics exhibited by these water sources often fade out with time. Today, the understanding of water quality has become conceptualized because of the numerous uses to which different types of water could be subjected to. More so, due to the complexity of several factors determining water quality and the countless choice of variables used to provide quantitative evaluation of this term, it is difficult to adopt a single definition of water quality (Chapman,1996). In a simple term, however, water quality refers to the composition of any water body as affected by nature and human cultural activities, expressed in terms of both measurable quantities and narrative statements (Novotny, 2003). Depending on the area of application, the criteria for establishing water quality requirements differ in many aspects. Hence, water which is suitable for a particular purpose, for instance, agricultural irrigation might not be useful for other purposes due to differences in water quality requirements. The causative factors responsible for the deteriorating water quality in most developing countries are quite similar. For instance, the city of Ibadan which is the largest indigenous city in Africa has several inter-related factors which directly or indirectly impact the quality of water bodies within the city. These are largely due to improper waste disposal, poor physical planning and increasing population pressures on the dilapidated infrastructures within the city. Omoleke (2004) also identified the culture of the indigenous people living in the core of the city as a vital factor contributing to these menace.Traditionally, the city been a commercial centre for local marketers of maize, yam and other food stuffs where heaps of refuse are generated on a daily basis. Due to the clustered distribution of old houses within the interior of the city, the mechanised collection of these refuse becomes virtually impossible. Hence, people resort to dumping their solid wastes into drains and stream channels which often results into clogging and flooding. More so, most of the houses around these areas do not have toilet facilities, as such people defecate indiscriminately on undeveloped plots of land or along the streams and rivers within the city. These uncivilized behaviours have continued to aggravate many dimensions of water pollution problems within the city.