Comparison of Performance of Public and Private Boreholes

Abstract

In the last fifteen years, a remarkable increase in the number of privately owned. There has been an increase in the individually owned and operated boreholes within the state because it is claimed that government owned boreholes breakdown too often. Hence, this study is aimed at comparison of the performance of three categories of boreholes namely: public operated boreholes owned by the Government, individual owned boreholes operated for commercial purpose, and private owned boreholes for private use in Rivers State. The comparison is in terms of functionality, operation and maintenance cost, and profit generated. Based on questionnaire completed by the management staff of several water providers and agencies 270 boreholes exist in the study area. Analysis indicate that 58(64.44%) of the total boreholes owned and operated by the government are not functional. The corresponding figures for the boreholes owned by individuals but operated for commercial use and the private owned and operated boreholes are 35(38.39%) and 20(22.22%) respectively. This is attributed to unplanned maintenance programme, poor feasibility studies, and lack of well-co-ordinated comprehensive well development structure. In terms of profit generation and low downtime, results show that the boreholes owned by individuals but operated for commercial purpose are the best while the worst are the private owned boreholes operated for private use. On the other hand, the least cost was obtained for the later.