An Investigation Into Water Demand And Distribution In Ilorin West Local Government
[EGBEJILA]

In a study conducted by Akinola and Areola (1980) in Ibadan, Nigeria, the basic per capital consumption for planned residential areas was found to be 89 liters per day; this demand is however suppressed because of intermittent pumping. Water consumption varies from one area to another depending on socio-economic standard of the people, the level of education and development, nature of prevailing climate, hygiene characteristics of the people and level of provision of sanitation facilities and general sanitary habits of the people.    
However, it is generally agreed that a minimum of 50l/c/d is needed by an individual to satisfy his basic need irrespective of socio-cultural background.
Ilorin like many other cities in Nigeria does not have accurate water demand and figures that could be used for the design and improvement of the water supply system.
    The total domestic water needs in homes with piped water and inside sanitation is at least 115 liters per head per day. The actual amount used may be greater depending on the ease and convenience of supply (Ayoade Oyebande, 1983). According to World Health organization, 75 liters of water a day is necessary to protect against household diseases and 50 liters a day necessary for basic family sanitation. The international consumption figures released by 4th world water forum (March, 2006), indicates that a person living in an urban area, uses an average of 250 liters per day; but individual consumption varies widely around the globe (THD, 2007). WHO and UNICEF joint monitoring program currently estimates that 1.1 billion people (17% of the global population) lack access to water resources, where access is defined as the availability of at least 20 liters of water per person per day from an improved water source within a distance of 1km (Bates et al., 2008).
    The number of people who rely on the earth’s limited reserves is increasing every day. In fact scarcity of clean water is one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems (Arms, 2008). At the 2002 world Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, great concern was expressed about the 1.1 billion people in the world who do not have access to safe drinking water and the 2.4 billion who lives without proper sanitation (Cech, 2005). The resulting human toll is roughly 3.3 billion cases of illness and 2 million deaths per year. Moreover, even as the world’s population grows, the limited easily accessible fresh water resources in river, lakes and shallow groundwater aquifers are dwindling as a result of over-exploitation and water quality degradation (IAEA, 2004).
    According to morenikeji et al, (2000) access to portable water in Niger state has been in continuous decrease since 1980s. On the average, less than 20% of the inhabitants of the study area currently have access to portable water. Government had been making effort at providing safe water supply to the inhabitants of the then Niger state since 1966 in form of wells but till today according to Mohammed (2007) the scheme had not been successful to meet the demands of the populace. Despite that the domestic water supply dams constructed and commissioned in Minna, Bida and Suleja in 1995 to compliment the sources in the major towns, bi-water World Bank projects boreholes drilled in local government headquarters and wells in districts. Not sooner as the population increases, all these infrastructures of water supply could no longer meet the water demand of the inhabitants in Niger State. Increase pressure on the available safe water sources and frequent breakdown of public taps, pumping machines has been frequent over the years. In whole state, about 45% of the public taps are damaged and 54% of the boreholes drilled are not functioning and about 65% of the wells are abandoned (Mohammed, 2007).
    Ajibade,(2004) observed that since independence, many water supply schemes have been and are still being commissioned to satisfy political and aspirations without resources maintenance consideration. In view of this lack of achievement, the study by Ajibade was conducted to examine the domestic water use system and quality from medium-sized towns in Niger State, Nigeria with a view to suggest improvement specifications for a sustainable water resource management.