MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES AND WATER QUALITY ISSUES IN NIGERIA

A section of the May 2013 International groundwater conference held in San Antonio, Texas, was devoted to ground water quality issues in developing nations. There was a common thread in most of the more than 20 abstracts; the role of the management of sewage and its effect on water quality issues in developing nations. Three of the presentations dealt with water related issues in Nigeria. One major factor affecting water quality issues is that of pollution that results from municipal solid waste disposal issues in addition to oil exploration and agriculture and manufacturing industries. Municipal solid wastes in most Nigerian “cities contain human excreta, animal excreta, hazardous chemical pollutants and sharps which can facilitate the spread of diseases and injury particularly among children playing near waste dumpsites and employees in waste management sector.” We examine some of the peculiar activities that lead to solid waste generation in some states in Nigeria and what is being done to reduce and dispose of them properly, thereby improving water quality in Nigeria. Five states: Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, and Rivers are examined in this study. With some education at all levels, there is hope in improving water quality in Nigeria as “Poor disposal of solid waste is associated with spread of vector borne-diseases like malaria and dengue fever.”