CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1          BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Water is a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, having the formula H2O, required by all firms of life on earth. Water is an essential resource for life and good health. It is the most important resource to mankind it is a vital element to virtually all production processes and for human consumption.

Access to water is measured by the number of people who have reasonable means of getting an adequate amount of water that is safe for drinking, washing and essential household activities expressed as a percentage of the total population, there have been efforts to increase provisions of domestic developing nations have to obtain their drinking water from untreated surface sources, I often situated far away from their residence. For instance in many rural communities, water supply infrastructures are still at developmental stage (Rossiter etal., 2010). On average, a persons needs about 20 litres of safe water each day to meet his or her daily metabolic, hygiene and domestic needs.

In urban areas the sources maybe public standpipe located not more than 200 meters away, while in rural areas the definition implies that members of the household do not have to spend a disproportionate part of the day fetching water.

On the other hand, the lack of access to adequate safe water supply contributes to death and illness especially in children. Without safe water supply people cannot leave health and productive lives.

This makes the world health organization (WHO) to suggest that improving sanitation and hygiene could drastically reduce child mortality. Thus, the improvement of access to safe water supply and sanitation is a preventive intervention which will lead to reduction of human suffering, increased productive capacities that at the end will reduce health care cost.

One of the major problems facing the effort to provide access to improved drinking water supplies has been the lack of proper records of available water sources and their hygiene (Hope, 2006). There is therefore a need for effective studies of the public health effect of provision of safe drinking water supply for rural dwellers. This will require accurate unbiased information about quantity and reliability of the sources.

Preliminary investigations revealed that majority of the rural communities do not have improved water supply system such as piped water networks or boreholes wheresuch facilities exists are either malfunctioning or completely broken down women and children especially spend their time seeking for water in far distances from their homes. They rely entirely on self-water supply source. Households not having access to improve water supply are vulnerable to many health problems they include shallow wells, rivers, springs, ephemeral are therefore to access water supply sources in the rural communities and the quality of water in the sources.

1.2          STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

Water, next to air, is the most important need of man water is life and a fundamental human right. The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water. It therefore, implies that provision of financially viable, reliable water supply service of acceptable quantity and quality for domestic and industrial uses is essential to healthy living.

The major problems of rural communities particularlyGokana in Rivers state (Bodo community as a case of study) is inadequate water supply and the effort to provide access to improve drinking water.

Lack of sanitation facilities and poor hygiene causes waterborne disease and others linked to poor sanitation. e.g. round worm, whip worm, guinea worm and schistosomosis is highest among the poor especially school-aged children (WHO. 1997).

The need for water in adequate supply and quantity is a necessity for everyday life including domestic and industrial uses. Hence the purpose of this study is to improve water supply facilities in rural communities.

1.3          AIM AND OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to ascertain the portability of drinking water at rural communities.

The objective is to determine the quality of drinking water at Bodo community through water quality analysis.

1.4          SCOPE OF STUDY

The study mainly focused on domestic use of water and improvement of adequate water supply in rural areas in general and Bodo community in particular.

1.5          SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will x-ray the sources, availability and affordability of safe water and sanitation in rural communities in Gokana Rivers state. The challenges faced by rural communities in meeting the water supply and sanitation needs will be exposed.

Furthermore, the role of government in meeting the water supply and sanitation needs of the rural communities will be critically examined with a view to strengthening their weakness in water supply and sanitation policy, regulation and implementation.

This report will urge the government to focus on the capacity of organizations involved in provisions and improvement of adequate water supply service and identifying a sustainable mechanism for financing water supply infrastructural in entire sub-Saharan Africa, Rivers state inclusive.

1.6          DEFINITION OF TERMS

Water: A colourless, transparent, odourless, liquid which forms the seas, lakes, rivers and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.

Water supply: is the provision of water by public utilities commercial organizations, community endeavors or by individuals usually via a system of pumps and pipes.

Dilemma: a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives especially ones that are equally undesirable.

Water Aquifer: an aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unsolidated materials (gravel, sand or silt) from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well.

Goe-physical method: is an applied type of physics which uses physical methods, such as seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic at the surface of the earth to measure the physical properties of the subsurface, along with the anomalies in those properties.

Potable drinking water: potable drinking water or improve drinking water, is water that is safe to drink or to use for food preparation, without risk of health problems.

Sanitation: the development and application of sanitary measure for the sake of cleanliness, protecting health etc. it is also the disposal of sewage and solid waste.

Hygiene: a condition or practice conductive to he preservation of health, as cleanliness. It is also the science that deals with the preservation of health.

Facilities: something created to fulfill a particular function. Or something that facilitates, or makes possible on action or process.

Improvement: the act of improving, advancement or growth, promotion in desirable qualities, progress toward what is better, melioration, as the improvement of the mind of land, roads etc. it is also the act of making profitable use or application of anything.

Standpipe: a vertical pipe into which water is pumped so that a desired pressure is available at the bottom. It is the water supply of a building for the use of firefighters.

Consumption: the act of consuming something. It is the amount of something consumed.

Health: the state of being free from physical or physiological disease, illness, or malfunction, wellness.

It is a state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social, the overall level of function of an organism from cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level.