Comparative Study of Quality of Sources of Water from Developing Communities of Nigeria and India

Quality of water use by man will continue to be an issue of concern since water itself is life to man. In these days of globalization, and cross-border health issues, we are interested in comparative study of quality of water sources beyond borders perhaps there may be lessons from such study. Oke-Bale community in Oshogbo in Osun State, Nigeria and Nitte community in Udupi District of Karnataka State, India are two similar communities selected for this study. Records of water samples from the two communities were obtained for five sources of water. The sources of water in order of use within the communities are the open well, borehole, stream or Monsoon river water, Harmattan river water and rain water. Water quality parameters considered which are physical/organoleptic, chemical and bacteriological, include colour, odour, taste, temperature, turbidity, pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, alkalinity, chloride, nitrate, zinc, and bacteriological. The parameters were assessed based on permissible levels of five water quality standards of SON, MUD, WHO, USEPA and BIS. Results show that the quality parameters for water resources of Oke-Bale in Nigeria are generally higher than those of Nitte, India. Conductivity follows increasing trend from well to river. Conductivity for rain needs to be accessed by SON. Results of bacteriological analysis indicate that the stream and rivers in both case studies are polluted. Results also indicated that rain collected from roof gutter can be polluted as indicated by Oke-Bale rain. R which is polluted. Oke-Bale alkalinity levels are higher than the Nitte levels and alkalinity levels of all water sources in Oke-Bale except rain sources are not permitted by WHO and USEPA levels of 100mg/L, although permitted by SON standards which is 5 times those of WHO and USEPA. All water sources are within chloride, nitrate and zinc permissible levels. SON is advised to review standard for alkalinity which is 5 times those of WHO and USEPA. BIS is to review chloride permissible high and wide range of 250-1, 000mg/L in line with others whose range is 200-250mg/L. MUD may need to review Zinc permissible range of 5-15mg/L, being too much where SON and WHO are both 3mg/L while USEPA. Further studies are recommended in the following areas: (i) To confirm or otherwise observation of higher stream turbidity over that of river; (ii) To establish if ratio of river to stream conductivity levels is high and greater than 5 as is the case in the Oke-Bale and Nitte case study; (iii) To establish a functional relationship between total hardness, calcium hardness and magnesium hardness; (iv) Study on Variation in the quality of rain water collected directly and from different roof materials and ages of roofs.