Nigeria's 70 percent water sources high risk to health

[Richard Akindele]

More than 70 percent of water sources in Nigeria are of the high risk category to health, according to a report released by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) here on Tuesday.

The UNICEF/WHO 2005 joint report on drinking water quality in Nigeria said that the non-compliance of the WHO guidelines for drinking water by many communities was responsible for this.

It stated that the worst case of water contamination was found in five hydrological areas where 50 percent of the 18 water samples analyzed for borehole and utility pipe technologies were found to be contaminated.

The report expressed fear that the country's health would be in jeopardy if the quality of water continued to decline and if no effort was geared towards improving the quality of technologies and application of best management.

Source: Xinhua