Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Public Health

Advisor

Joseph C. Emerenini

Abstract

AbstractDrinking water is potable and safe if it is free from physical, chemical, and microbiological contaminants. Despite the Nigerian government's interventions to alleviate water contamination, a considerable number of Nigerians are still without safe potable water. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to examine whether the level of contamination of drinking water sourced from boreholes and sachet packaged water in Owerri City, Southeast Nigeria was in compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and to examine the relationship between the physical, chemical, and bacteriological parameters of drinking water sourced from borehole and sachet packaged water The conceptual framework for this study was the activated health education model. Data were collected from 68 water samples from 17 district wards of Owerri. The water pollution index revealed that 65% of the samples tested were polluted. Results of a one-sample t-test revealed poor compliance with the WHO standard. A binary logistic regression to evaluate whether physical and chemical parameters could predict bacterial contamination showed that turbidity of the water sample had 27 times increased odds for predicting bacterial contamination of the water source. However, this finding was not statistically significant. Results may provide the needed data to local authorities to enforce WHO standards for drinking water and promote public health.

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