Rainfall Variability and Municipal Water Supply in Bosso Town, North Central - Nigeria

Abstract

The variability of rainfall pattern has a great impact on the hydrological cycle and therefore affects the quality and quantity of water use. The study assessed the effect of rainfall variability on municipal water supply in Bosso town. The aim of the study is to assess rainfall variability and its implications on municipal water supply in Bosso, Nigeria. The study makes use of rainfall data which was collected from NIMET office Minna, municipal water supply data from Niger state water board and responses from structured questionnaire designed for the study. The Standardized rainfall anomaly index revealed that rainfall was variable between 2004 and 2014. The years 2005 and 2013 were moderately dry, years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014 were near normal while 2011 and 2012 were dry. Simple linear regression revealed a positive and non-significant relationship between rainfall and municipal water supply. This implies that the supply of municipal water in the area is a function of the rainfall received but do not solely depend on the rainfall alone. The questionnaire analysis revealed that the people of the communities buy water to augment the water they get from the State water board, their wells and water harvested from rainfall. On the average, about 8841litres of water is used in the study area, an indication of about 32.39 liters of water per person, a value of which is lower than recommended WHO standard of 100 liters per person per day. The study recommends that the laws protecting water resources should be enforced and also that research efforts should be intensified in areas of water resource management.