An assessment of the physiochemical quality of drinking water from tube wells and its effects on human health in Sokoto metropolis

Abstract

Available, accessible and safe drinking water supply may enhance health and development. The availability of potable water supply plays a key role in the realization of health improvement measures in any community. Water supply reduces the incidence of water related diseases, infant mortality rates and increases the children’s life expectancy. Safe and quality water is a basic need for every human being and catalyst for good health and development in any nation globally. Safe drinking water is the most important in the control of diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, etc. in fact its reported that 80% of all the diseases in the world especially in Africa are associated with unsafe water. This paper aimed at assessing whether if the tube wells ground water in Sokoto South Local Government are of good quality standard for human consumption as enshrine by WHO’s (2017) guidelines and SON (2015) for the protection of human health. Meanwhile, primary data were generated by collecting samples of water from selected tube wells in different locations in the study area using purposive sampling techniques. Three most important physicochemical parameters were tested. The most important physic parameter tested and analyzed was pH, of the water while the most important chemical parameters tested and analyzed were chloride (Cl), and nitrate (NO3) using descriptive statistics method. The results show that the water from the tube wells are physicochemically fit for human consumption. The paper recommended that such water should still be treated, boiled, frozen and thawed before consumption.