Impacts of Rock Mineralization and Poor Sanitary System on Borehole Waters Quality and the Health Implications

An efficient low-cost–low-technology whole-household water collection and treatment system

“…Our treatment system ensured that contamination during storage and reticulation was prevented, as the reticulated water was contaminant-free. However, the raw groundwater was hard (total hardness¼33.15+23.20 mg/L), alkaline (pH¼8.0+0.01) and contained high amount of heavy metals, and HPC and TC bacteria as previously reported for Abakaliki (Okogbue et al 2013;Ngele et al 2014;Nwonumara et al 2019). The concentrations of Pb (0.09+0.002) and Cr (0.05+0.002) in the untreated water were above WHO (2017) permissible standards.…”

“…Most households of high-income, middle-income and upper low-come earners have existing borehole and/or rainwater collection system. Regrettably, available information shows that the groundwater in Abakaliki is hard and often contaminated with toxic heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms (Ngele et al 2014;Nwonumara et al 2019;Obasi & Akudinobi 2020). This is attributed to the geology of the area and possible contamination from stormwater running over open defecation areas and seepage from sewage septic tanks.…”

“…Given this significant contribution to water supply, prioritizing self-supply in integrated water management is key to sustainable safe water availability in Africa. However, self-supply could expose consumers to health risks (Edokpayi et al 2018;Silva et al 2020), as previous studies have shown that sources are often contaminated with disease causing pathogens, heavy metals and hardness causing carbonates (Okogbue & Ukpai 2013;Ngele et al 2014;Nwonumara et al 2019;Okogwu et al 2019;Lapworth et al 2020). Although self-supply improves access to drinking water, it does not necessarily guarantee access to safe drinking water, resulting in the persistence of the health challenges associated with poor water access.…”