Water Supply and Sanitation Facility Accessibility in Off-Campus Houses Populated by Students in Tertiary Institutions, Abeokuta, Nigeria

Abstract

Water as potential in the transmission of parasitic diseases was used to evaluate its access and sanitation facility in off-campus hostels populated by students of tertiary institutions in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were administered to 600 consented students to obtain information on drinking water source, rate of illness, type and usage of sanitation facilities. Geographical Positioning System was used to obtain coordinates of the different houses. Data were analysed using SPSS version 17.0. Results showed that 59% of students were males and females (41%). Age groups were varied; 54%of the respodents were within 21-25 years. On access to water supply, only 29% had water in their premises, while 71% access water elsewhere of 30 minutes distance. The sources include borehole, protected dug wells, unprotected dug wells; while others during the wet season harvest rain water. Only 18% of the students treated their water by boiling it, adding chlorine, solar disinfection, or adding alum to concentrate the sediments before drinking. Most houses (98%) had sanitary/toilet facilities but the households shared the facilities. A significant relationship (p<0.05) was observed between access to water and number of households. On perception of students to implications of disease transmission, 66% of students were aware; but only 23% had not fallen ill since the past one year. It is advocated that provision of improved facilities for sanitary disposal of excreta should be made available for households, in addition to safe and sufficient water to avoid future disease outbreak.

Keywords: Water, Sanitation, Accessibility, Students, Abeokuta