Assessing Household Potable Water Accessibility of Residents of Katsina-Ala Town in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed household potable water accessibility of residents of Katsina- ala town in Benue state, Nigeria. The researcher used a survey research design combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The study also employed multi-stage sampling technique which combined systematic, stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Three hundred and eighty-seven (387) copies of questionnaire were administered to housewives or female head or any most senior adult of each household. The research findings revealed little improvements in access to potable water, lack of public water supply and that much of the water supplied in the town was through untreated hand dug wells and to a little extent by boreholes which confirmed the water supplied in the town was unsafe. The study recommended the rehabilitation of Katsina-Ala water works, development of climate adaptation and resilience strategies, public-private partnership investment in water infrastructure development, maintenance and service delivery and strengthening of water regulatory agencies to monitor and control the proliferation and sale of unsafe water sources.