Sanitation in Riverine and Flood Prone Rural Area in the Niger Delta (A Case Study of Kaiama and Odi Community in Bayelsa State)

Many riverine communities in Nigeria still do not have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities. Majority are usually subjected to intermittent flooding and face heavy environmental problems resulting from oil prospective activities. The inadequate and unscientific municipal solid waste disposal techniques and poor state of sanitation in most riverine communities have resulted to pollution of the natural environment, contamination of both surface and ground water, causes sanitation related prevailing diseases like diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory tract infection etc to children and adults, child deaths , assault and rape to females in the communities. This study aimed to describe the current state of sanitation and solid waste disposal technique in riverine and flood prone communities, a case study of Kaiama and Odi community in Bayelsa state. In order to achieve the goals of this study, a combination of literature review, qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to assess and analysed the sanitation and solid waste disposal status; also, the prevailing diseases through health record. Data were collected from questionnaires through individual interview, focus group discussion and observation checklist in the both study communities. Water samples were collected from river and wells in the both study communities and tested for turbidity and E. coli. The results revealed that in the both study communities malaria is the most prevailing disease in adults and children especially between 1-4 and 5-14 years old; above 80 percent do not have access to toilet system, majority that have toilet system used the traditional pit latrine; about 80 percent defecate directly in the river. Over 80 percent of the respondent were not satisfy with open defecation, the solid waste generated is mainly food waste, over 70 percent do not have a temporary waste storage container, above 77 percent disposed their solid waste in the river, about 65 percent hold the perception that sanitation condition was very bad; out of the 11 well samples, 10 has low turbidity value less than 5NTU except that of the general hospital with 55.3NTU, the 10 river samples all has a turbidity value greater than 5NTU, the highest is the male defecation area Odi (grab sample) with 557.0 NTU, the E.coli counts of both the river and well water are high in the study communities, the highest count is 9.0 x 1010 MPN/100ml in market area in kaiama and Rev. Proctor Primary School well (kaiama).