Household water in rural Kwara

The Kwara State Government embarked on a programme of provision of potable water for its rural communities through drilling of boreholes. Water from these boreholes were analysed for bacteriological quality. A follow-up study assessed the household waters from villages that had been provided with boreholes after 6 months, 1 year and 2 years of post intervention. After 6 months of post intervention, 91.43% of the boreholes were bacteriologically satisfactory. Also, bacteriological results at 1 year and 2 years post inter­vention gave 80% and 85.72%, satisfaction respectively. It was found that provision of potable water alone to the rural communities, without adequate sanitation, continuous pre and post intervention health education, and protected fetching and storage containers may not achieve the level of success desired in dealing with water borne and water related diseases in rural Africa. Furthermore, the habits of the rural communities with respect to water use, personal hygiene and good sanitation may take years before a reasonable level of change could be achieved. Efforts of the health educators and other community workers must continue even when the people apparently remain adamant after a reasonable period of enlightenment. Government must be ready to pay the price of such high cost of continuous health education in the rural areas of African communities if good health for the people must be achieved. Finally, a package of water and sanitation project would go a long way in improving the health of the rural communities.