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      A Survey of the Community Water Supply of some rural Riverine Communities in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria: Health implications and literature search for suitable interventions

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          Abstract

          Background:

          Water is a fundamental human need. This is the basis for target 10, goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals which sets to reduce the proportion of people without access to safe water by half by 2015. This study assessed the access to safe water supply in 22 riverine communities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.

          Materials and Method:

          The study was carried out using a descriptive cross-sectional study design, with the data collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, field observations and focused group discussions. The questionnaire was administered to female heads of household, and used to collect information on the main source of drinking water, the time it took for the round trip to the main water sources, and methods used for the treatment of water of suspicious quality. An inventory of all the community water facilities in the communities was also taken, and information collected on the functionality of the facilities, and how they were constructed, operated and maintained. A sample of the water from each of the facilities was also collected in a sterile container for microbiological analysis.

          Results:

          A total of 456 questionnaires were administered and retrieved. The most common source of drinking water was surface water (37.9%), and most (61.2%) of the water drawers spent less than 15 minutes to complete the round trip to the water sources. There were an average of 17 community water supply facilities, but only 23.8% of the facilities were functional during the study. Most of the functional facilities were being managed by community members. More than two third (67.9%) of the samples tested were found to contain significant numbers of Escherichia coli.

          Conclusion:

          The communities had easy access to water supply, but most of the facilities were either contaminated or nonfunctional. The management of the facilities by members of the communities, and the promotion of point-of-use purification systems are hereby advocated.

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          Most cited references22

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          World Health Organization.

          Ala Alwan (2007)
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            Research methodology with statistics for health and social science

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              A simple and effective arsenic filter based on composite iron matrix: development and deployment studies for groundwater of Bangladesh.

              Drinking groundwater contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic is a worldwide public health issue. This work describes the research, development and distribution of a filter used by thousands of people in Bangladesh to obtain arsenic-free safe water. The filter removes arsenic species primarily by surface complexation reactions: =FeOH + H(2)AsO(4)(-) --> =FeHAsO(4)(-) + H(2)O (K=10(24)) and =FeOH + HAsO(4)(2-) --> =FeAsO(4)(2-) + H(2)O (K=10(29)) on a specially manufactured composite iron matrix (CIM). The filter water meets WHO and Bangladesh standards, has no breakthrough, works without any chemical treatment (pre- or post-), without regeneration, and without producing toxic wastes. It costs about $40/5 years and produce 20-30 L/hour for daily drinking and cooking need of 1-2 families. The spent material is completely non toxic-solid self contained iron-arsenate cement that does not leach in rainwater. Approved by the Bangladesh Government, about 30,000 SONO filters were deployed all over Bangladesh and continue to provide more than a billion liters of safe drinking water. This innovative filter was also recognized by the National Academy of Engineering-Grainger Challenge Prize for sustainability with the highest award for its affordability, reliability, ease of maintenance, social acceptability, and environmental friendliness, which met or exceeded the local government's guidelines for arsenic removal.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Niger Med J
                NMJ
                Nigerian Medical Journal : Journal of the Nigeria Medical Association
                Medknow Publications Pvt Ltd (India )
                0300-1652
                2229-774X
                Jan-Mar 2011
                : 52
                : 1
                : 13-18
                Affiliations
                [1]Consultant, Community Medicine Department, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
                Author notes
                Postal address: P. O. Box 162 Omoku, ONELGA – Rivers State, Nigeria E-mail: ruralhealthforum@ 123456yahoo.com 08037075300
                Article
                NMJ-52-13
                3180744
                21968510
                3600db87-5810-4c80-b157-683f058b0c17
                Copyright: © Nigerian Medical Journal

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Categories
                Original Article

                Medicine
                niger delta,nigeria,millennium development goal,community water supply
                Medicine
                niger delta, nigeria, millennium development goal, community water supply

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