An Assessment of Borehole Conditions and Impact on Access to Water Supply in Vandeikya L.G.A., Benue State.

ABSTRACT: Water is regarded as a very important resource which is central to the achievement of sustainable development. Despite of importance of this resource, many people, particularly those living in rural areas of developing countries lack access to a sufficient supply of water. This paper examines the spatial pattern and conditions of boreholes in Vandeikya L.G.A and their impact on household access to water.The study employed multiple sampling techniques; purposive sampling, simple random sampling and systematic random sampling, for selection of communities and households for questionnaire administration, using a sample size of 385 respondents. The study employed frequencies, percentages and cross-tabulation for data analysis. Based on the template adopted for measuring access to water, findings show that 56.3% of respondents do not have access to borehole water supply; 31.8% have basic access, 10.6% have intermediate access, while 1.6% have optimal access. Findings also show little variation in access to borehole water supply across sampled communities.Data on boreholes and their conditions was then cross-tabulated with the variation in level of access to determine the impact of borehole conditions on access to water in the study area. This paper concludes that the problem of rural water supply remains the sustainability of water infrastructure, which is mainly affected by poor management and maintenance.
KEYWORDS: Borehole conditions, Access to Water, Rural Water, Households, Vandeikya