Evaluating non-consumptive household water uses in a growing urban centre in Nigeria

Abstract

Efficient use of water could be partly achieved with sound management strategies of the non-consumptive uses (N-CUs) of water in homes being put in place. This research evaluated the non-consumptive water use component in Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. Data required for the investigation was generated from the administration of 325 questionnaires across the five Quarters into which the town is divided, out of which 269 were completed and retrieved. Both descriptive and inferential analysis of the data were carried out. Descriptive analysis showed that households engage absolutely in different non-consumptive uses such as bathing, clothe washing, drainage cleaning and dish washing while households’ engagement in other N-CUs were in varying proportions. The results of Factor Analysis (FA) revealed that five out of the 13 variables identified and analyzed with a minimum eigen value of 1.000 were strong explanatory variables of 73.674% when engaging in issues relating to N-CUs at household level. These are water use for the following (i) drainage cleaning (16.153%); (ii) Dish washing (15.922%); (iii) Toilet cleaning (14.547%); (iv) Auto-wash (14.238%); and Bathing (12.814%). Regression analysis (RA) of the data revealed that three variables namely clothe washing, Incidental washing and auto-washing were significant (p<0.001) in generating predictive model of N-CUs of water in homes. The combined results of FA and RA implied that the set of variables in both analysis need to be considered in any issue involving the management and control of N-CUs of water in homes for a result-oriented water use efficiency at household level.