STATE OF WATER DELIVERY AND WATER POVERTY ASSESSMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF EKITI STATE

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1 STATE OF WATER DELIVERY AND WATER POVERTY ASSESSMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF EKITI STATE Alatise, M. and Rodiya, A. Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo State. ABSTRACT The main goals of rural development are to improve the living conditions and reduce poverty among the people and hence water which is essential for life must be obtained in adequate quantity and quality in order to ensure human and economic development. The objective of this paper is to present an assessment of water poverty in Ekiti State, Nigeria as well as call for intervention so that the International Development targets for poverty reduction set for 215 can be realized. Two strategic approaches namely the conventional Composite Approach and the Time Analysis Approach were used in this study. For each of the approaches, certain elements such as (i) Water availability (ii) access to safe water (iii) Clean Sanitation (iv) time taken to collect water and (v) Volume of water collected in a day per household were used to compute the Water Poverty Index (WPI). Results obtained show that there is water scarcity, water stress and low economic productivity within in each of the Local Government Areas sampled and also from one Local Government Area to another. The situation is the same everywhere in the state and also typical of what obtains in the 36 states of Nigeria. The water poverty level calls for an immediate intervention of the World Bodies in Nigeria in particular and African Nations in general if the millennial development goals are to be achieved. Keywords: Water, Poverty, Water Poverty Reduction Conventional Composite Index Approach, Time-Analysis Index Approach, Ekiti State, Nigeria. INTRODUCTION World Population in year 25 has been estimated approximately 1 billion, of which a high percentage will be living in urban areas (26). In this regard more portable water food and energy among other things will be pressingly needed. Therefore the need to harness our water resources particularly in developing countries where water scarcity is predominant cannot be over-emphasized. In essence, a holistic approach to water management is required to minimized and/or reduce water scarcity and water poverty. Nigeria is a Federation of 36 states and located in West Africa between latitudes 4 and 14 North and longitudes 2 and 15 east; and Ekiti State in South Western Nigeria is located on the latitude north and longitude east. The state enjoys two sessions, wet and dry; the wet season lasts from April till October while the dry season lasts from October till March. The annual rainfall ranges between 25 and 3 mm. The economy of the state is mainly dominated by agriculture and the level of education in the state is high and rural life is also very high. Greater proportion of the population devotes its time to agriculture through rain fed. Water supply either to agriculture or municipal is low and scarce and the situation particularly during the dry season is pathetic and also worrisome. People depend mainly on water packaged in sachets known as pure water while commonly sold as water for drinking while other domestic water needs can only be met from distant places in streams, brooks, wells sprints among others.

2 It is a well known fact that water is essential for life, and adequate water supply is a prerequisite for human and economic development. Global water resources are limited and only through a more sustainable approach to water management and more equitable and ecologically sensitive strategies of water allocation and use, can we hope to achieve the international development targets for poverty reduction that has been set for 215 (Sullivan; 22). In developing countries, the burden of domestic water provision most acutely falls on women and children and in some areas as much as 25% of women s productive time can be spent on water collection. This represents a significant capital entitlements and needs to be properly evaluated Curtis, 1986; Carney, 1998; and Scones, 1998 in Sullivan, 22). Thus the objective of this paper is to present the state of the art of water scarcity, water resources development and assessment of water poverty in Ekiti State, Nigeria. METHODOLOGY This irrigation needs coupled with the demand for energy and water supply for he teeming population call for an up-to-date assessment of water resources potentials in Ekiti State. The two large dams, Ero and Egbe, the Igo-Kosi water falls and other prominent perennial streams and ground water potentials for the state were assessed for meeting the water needs of the people of the state. Also, 1 out of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state were sampled for water poverty index parameters namely: (i) Water availability (ii) Access to safe water and (iii) Time taken to access water. Two strategic approaches namely: (i) The conventional composite index approach and (ii) Time analysis approach were adopted in this study. Using the composite index approach, the Water Poverty Index (WPI) comprising the various elements such as: i. Water availability ii. Access to safe water iii. Clean sanitation and iv. Time taken to collect domestic water was calculated for each of the Local Government areas in the state. The WPI formula can be given as: Where: WPI = waa+was+wt (1-T) (1) A = adjusted water availability (AWA) assessment as %. Calculated on the basis of ground and surface water availability related to ecological water requirement and a basic human requirement, plus all other domestic demand, as well as the demand from agriculture and industry. (The value of A should also recognize the seasonal variability of water availability). S = the population with access to safe water and sanitation (%). T = the index (e.g. between and 1) to represent time and effort taken to collect water for the household (e.g. from proportion of population having access in or near the home etc. This could be modified to take account of gender and child labour issues. (1 T is the structure used to take account of the negative relationship between the time taken to get water and the final level of the WPI).

3 wa, ws and wt are the weights given to each component of the index (so that wa + ws + wt = 1) since A, S, and T are all defined to be are between o and 1 to produce a WPI value between and 1. The formula needs to be modified as follows: WPI = ⅓ (waa + wss + wt (1-T) (2) All the terms are as previously defined. For Time Analysis Approach, the data used include: i. Time in (minutes) taken to collect water from the main source, including the queuing time respectively in the wet and dry season ii. Volume of water (litres) collected in each trip respectively by women, men and children in the household. Number of Women, Men and Children Gathering Water Respectively in Trip One, Two and Three of the Day These data are used to calculate: a) The total time spent by a household collecting water in a day; and b) The total volume of water available for a household in a day. Total time spent by the household in a day to collect water is calculated by multiplying time spent per person collecting water by the total number of people collecting water in the three trips. The total volume of water obtained summing together the total amount of water transported by women, men and children. The total amount of water transported by women is calculated by multiplying the volume of water collected in each trip by a woman by the total number of women carrying water in a day. The same type of calculation is applied for men and children. As for household connected with a pipe in the house, the average time spent per head collecting water is 2 minutes and the average volume of water per head could only be provided by state water board or state water corporation. Using the time-analysis approach, the index is calculated by: Where: WPI = T/V (m.l) (3) T is the total time in minutes spent per household in a day to collect volume V of water (in litres) The time volume index (minutes/litre) is calculated simply by dividing the total time (minutes/day) by the total volume of water (litres/day). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Calculation of WPI Using the Composite Index Approach Table 1 shows the WPI values calculated for each of the Local Government Areas using the Composite Index Approach. From the table, it can be seen Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area has the highest value of WPI and hence experiences the lowest degree of water stress while Ekiti Local Government Area has the lowest value of WPI and hence experiences the highest degree of water stress. Table 1: Calculation of WPI by Composite Index Approach. S/N Local Govt. Area Total Time (Min) Total Volume (litre) Calculated WPI 1. Irepodun/Ifelodun Ido-Osi Ekiti South-West Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti Eas

4 Also from the table, it can be seen that where there WPI values are low, the degree of water stress is very high. Thus there is a high degree of water stress within each Local Government Area and also from the Local Government Area to another through out the entire state. Calculation of WPI Using the Time Analysis Approach Table 2 shows the WPI values calculated for the Local Government Areas in Ekiti State, Nigeria, using the time analysis approach. Table 2: Calculation of WPI by Time Analysis Approach. S/N Local Govt. Area Total Time (Min) Total Volume (litre) Calculated WPI 1. Irepodun/Ifelodun Ido-Osi Ekiti South-West Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti Eas From the table, Ekiti Local Government Area has the highest water index of.6 ml -1 and hence experiences the greatest water stress while Ido-osi with water poverty index of.17 ml -1 has the least. From the able, it can be seen that Oye and Irepodun/Ifelodun experience almost the same degree of water stress but less than that experienced by either Ekiti South West (.57) or Ikere (.48). The WPI value obtained by using the approach indicate that water scarcity is high within each Local Government Areas and also from one Local Government Area to another throughout the whole state. Table 3: Water availability for calculating WPI. LG Area Available Not Available Cum.Available Cum. Not Available Ire/Ife Ido-Osi ESW Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti

5 LG Area Access % Table 4: Water accessibility for calculating WPI. No Access % Cum. Access Cum. No Access Ire/Ife Ido-Osi ESW Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti LG Area Table 5: Time to access safe water for calculating WPI. Shortest Time % Longest Time% Cum. Short Time Cum. Long Time Ire/Ife Ido-Osi ESW Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti Statistical Parameter Evaluation for Calculating WPI Values for Ekiti State, Nigeria i. Water availability: Fig.1a shows the status of water availability and non -availability in each Local Government Area, while Fig 1b shows the cumulative water availability and cumulative water non-availability. From Fig 1a, there is almost a balanced proportion of between water availability and non-availability within each local government area Fig 1b gives the R 2 of.9997 and.9988 cumulative water availability and cumulative water non-availability respectively. This implies that water may be available in the Local Government Areas, but of what quality for use is the issue. ii. Water Accessibility to Safe Water Fig 2a shows accessibility of safe water is serious in some local government areas particularly Ise orun and Ekiti and generally, most of the local government areas in the state have no access to safe water. Fig 2b shows the cumulative accessibility and no accessibility to safe water in the 1 Local Government Areas with the R 2 being.9922 and. 997 respectively. iii. Time to Access Safe Water

6 8 7 No of Respondents Available Not Available Ire/Ife Ido-Osi ESW Ise-Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Fig. 1a: water Availability in the Various Local Government Areas Considered Cumulative Water Availability Cum.Availble Cum. Not Available Linear y = x R 2 =.9997 y = 34.67x R 2 =.9988 Ire/If e Ido- Osi ESW Ise- Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Local Govts Fig. 1b: Cumulative Statistics of water Available in the various Local Govts

7 No of Respondents Access % No Access % Ire/Ife Ido- ESW Ise- Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Osi Orun Fig.2a: Accessibility to Safe Water in the Various Local Govts Cumulative Access to Safe Water (%) Ire/Ife y = x R 2 =.9922 Ido- Osi y = x R 2 =.997 ESW Ise- Orun Cum. Access Cum. No Access Ado M oba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Fig. 2b: Cumulative Statistics of Accessibility to Safe Water Fig 3a, shows that only three Local Government Areas namely, Ire/Ife, Ado and Moba have relatively shortest time to access safe water while the others have longest time to access safe water, the situation is most acute in Ekiti State. Fig 3b gives the cumulative short time and cumulative long time in the Local Government Areas with the R 2 being.9976 and.992 respectively. This implies that the people in the state suffer from sufficient quantity of safe water supply and thus a lot main hour goes into searching for water. There is therefore low productivity, low income earnings, poor revenue generation, endemic spread of diseases, and other related water borne diseases. Fig 4 shows the variation of shortest time to access safe water and the sample percentile in the respective Local Government Areas. Fig 4 gives a correlation of R 2 being.9933, which implies that the people spend most of their time for productive business on searching for water. This ultimately results in widespread poverty and its attendant problems.

8 Number of Respondents Shortest Time % Longest Time% Ire/Ife Ido-Osi ESW Ise- Orun Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Fig.3a: Time to Access Safe Water in the various Local Govts Cumulative Time % Ire/Ife Ido- Osi y = x x R 2 =.9976 y = x x R 2 =.992 ESW Ise- Orun Cum. Short Time Cum. Long Time Ado Moba Ikole Ikere Oye Ekiti- Fig.3b: Cumulative Statistics of Time to Access Water Tables 6 and 7 show that time spent in getting water in the sampled Local Government Areas in Ekiti State is very significant at both 5% and 1% level of significance. Water stress is dominant within the Local Government Areas and also from the Local Government Area to the other. Water poverty is real and it culminates into poor health status, low income, low, low productivity, low economic empowerment and low technological development.

9 Table 6: ANOVA of the time spent in getting water at 5% level. SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Shortest Time % Longest Time% ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total Table 7: Anova of time spent in getting water at 1% level. SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Shortest Time % Longest Time% ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit Between Groups Within Groups Total CONCLUSION If the widespread publication of global disparities in water accessibility at the World Water Forum and the G8 ministerial conference in 1999 and the debates at the Second World Water Forum in The Hague in March 2 as well as the international development targets for poverty reduction that have been set for 215 are anything to go by, there is the need for accelerated efforts by the developed nations to help the development ones particularly in Africa. The Water Poverty Index calculated for Ekiti State in Nigeria shows that the degree of water stress and water scarcity is high. It shows that most of the productive time is spent on searching for water and therefore the grinding poverty experience by the people is not far-fetched. In Ekiti State, water availability, and accessibility for a healthy life call for a serious attention and intervention if millennial development goals for poverty reduction in 215 are to be achieved. The same situation obtains in nearly all the 36 states in Nigeria and what obtains in Nigeria may not be any difference from what occur in all the other African Countries. REFERENCES Adewumi, B.O.J. (26). The benefits of large dams to national and regional economy of Nigeria. Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21 st century Berga et al; Taylor and Francies Group, London pp Biswas, Asit K. (Ed) (1976). Systems Approach to Water Management McGraw Hill, New York, pp Sullivan, C. (23). Calculating a Water Poverty Index. World Development Vol. 3, No. 7, pp