ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF WATER FROM WATER SOURCES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BONNY LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF RIVERS STATE NIGERIA

This study examined the quality of water sources in public secondary schools in Bonny Local Government Area of River State. Study adopted the experimental and cross sectional survey method. Study sources of data were from both primary and secondary sources. Some of the objectives of the study includes; identify the sources of water available to public Secondary schools in the study area; ascertain the quality of the water from the different water sources available in public Secondary schools; determine the variation in water quality of public secondary schools with World Health Organization standard for water quality; determine if there are health implications arising from consumption of water in the selected public schools. The Analysis of variance statistical tool, the student’s t test statistics and the Chi-Square statistical tools were deployed for this study. Results showed that borehole is the major source of water available to pupils in public secondary schools in Bonny L.G.A. The level of consumption of water by pupils in the schools was high. The quality of water available to the pupils affects their health and well-being. The most predominant ailment suffered by the pupils in the last one year was typhoid fever and cholera and this have direct links to the quality of water consumed by the pupils. Study concludes that the quality of water because of its direct link on human health needs to be given priority attention as a way to enhancing quality health amongst public secondary schools pupils in the LGA. The study recommends that provision of potable water for school pupils should be encouraged so as to reduce health risk on the pupils owing to their fragile immune system.