Evaluating the Locational Efficiency of Boreholes in Amper, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Many parts of the developing countries of the world face perennial water scarcity problems despite concerted efforts to provide reliable sources of potable water such as boreholes. Some of these problems arise from inefficient location of the boreholes. Amper town in Plateau State, Nigeria is a fast growing area that suffers water scarcity especially in the dry season in spite of the fact that there are numerous boreholes located in it. This study investigates the locational efficiency of boreholes in the town. Four standard measures of locational efficiency of boreholes were investigated: physical accessibility, functional water population density (FWPD), reliability and residents’ perception. Imagery of the tow was downloaded from Google Earth, georeferenced and digitized, with all discernible housing units. Household numbers were estimated and a structured question was distributed to household heads for data on residents’ perception of boreholes location and use. There are 19 boreholes in the town with only 8 of them being functional. Buffer analysis showed that 80% of households are within the acceptable WHO recommended 200m distance, even though only 65% reside within 200m of a functional borehole. The FWPD is poor with more than 1700 persons per borehole for functional boreholes and more that 700 per all boreholes. These against the recommended 25 persons per borehole. Only four of the functional boreholes operate for 24 hours in a day, which shows unreliability. Residents also have alternative sources of water arranged because of the problem with accessing borehole water due to crowding at borehole locations and unreliability. They claimed they are not involved in borehole location decisions and political interference and poor construction are responsibility for the large number of non-functioning boreholes. The study recommended that better locational decisions be made to ensure functioning of the boreholes.