IMPLICATION OF RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY ON PORTABLE WATER SUPPLY ANALYSIS IN CHANCHAGA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

In recent time, Minna, the Niger State capital has witnessed prolong period of dry season, heat stress and fluctuating pattern of rainfall. Also, Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State has been facing serious challenge of portable water supply despite the effort of the government in providing pipe borne water. This study therefore, investigates rainfall and temperature variability and its impact on portable water supply in Chanchaga Local Government area of Niger State. Thirty years meteorological data (1989 -2018) consisting of monthly mean rainfall and air temperature were collected from the archives of the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) for the study. Also, two hundred questionnaires were administered within five selected locations in Chanchaga Local Government Area to generate data related to portable water supply within the study area. This along with information on water production trend collected from the Chanchaga station of Niger state Water Board was analysed in this study. Descriptive statistics such as the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of skewness, coefficient of Kurtosis and coefficient of variation was computed from the climatic data obtained. The result of this study revealed that coefficient of variation of the annual mean rainfall data falls between 88.46% in 1997 and 126.51% in 2015 indicating extremely high rainfall variability over the study area while, air temperature data over the study area shows a slight variation with values between 0.19% in 2015 and 4.39% in 1990. There is a general decreasing trend in rainfall amount recorded in the study area while temperature show a general increasing trend over the last two decades (1999-2018). Moreover, investigation into portable water sources in the study revealed that Borehole, Hand pump, Tap and Hand dug wells are the main water sources in the selected locations. The main sources of drinking water identified are borehole water (35%), tap water (22%), well water (17%) and sachet water (16%) while, the sources of domestic water supply identified are boreholes (32%), hand dug wells (30%), tap (23%), vendors (7%), hand pump (6%) and water tankers (2%). However, this show that tap water supply to the study area is not sufficient as many people depend on alternative water sources for drinking and domestic use. Therefore, there is need for increase in tap water pipe network and water supply to cope with increase in population in Chanchaga local government area of Niger state. Finally, this study clearly shows that there is notable change in portable water supply in the study area over the past decades and the change is partly attributed to climate change and partly to the increase in population of people in the study area. Hence, government need to put in place strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change on water supply system in the study area.