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WATER RESOURCES IN NIGERIA


(Its Development, Utilization, Problems Associated with it and Methods of Conservation)

By

Adeshola ERINLE
Yaba College of Technology, Yaba Lagos, Nigeria.
Email: shoxzy12@gmail.com Phone Number: 07068685220

ABSTRACT

The paper posits that the importance of water to man cannot be over emphasized. Man can survive
longer without food than without water. Man depends on water for his sustenance. Nigeria as a whole is
well endowed with water resources. Water resources are used in various ways including domestic use,
agricultural irrigation, fisheries, hydropower, industrial production, recreation, transportation,
environmental protection, the disposal and treatment of sewage, and industrial effluents. Water has
sources and it supplies, economic, social, and political characteristics which make it a unique and
challenging natural resource to manage. The necessity for man to produce food, clothing and shelter
has lead to series of problems with water as resources in Nigeria, such as population growth, pollution,
expansion of business activity, climate change and Reduction of aquifer.
The essence of conservation is to ensure sustainable use of the resources. It is important to note that
conservation of water is not limited to its quantity alone, but also include quality. There are so many
ecosystems that depend on this resource for survival.
This paper emphasises the major methods of water conservation in Nigeria are which includes, water
evaluation and planning system, the construction of dams particularly in drought prone regions and
collection of water from rooftops and storage in tanks. The irrigation system is constructed to divert
water from the valley bottom streams and low flood plains with high water table for agricultural
production. Globally, water conservation is increasingly being based on watersheds. This is done by
restoring natural vegetation to forests or fields, communities can increase the storage and filtering
capacity of these watersheds and minimize wasteful flooding and erosion. Restoration and protection of
wetlands is crucial to water conservation. Wetlands stabilize groundwater supplies by holding rainfall
and discharging the water slowly, acting as natural flood-control reservoirs.
Keywords: Resources, Natural Resource, Water Resources, Conservation.

INTRODUCTION
A resource is something needed by organisms, population or an ecosystem to exist or sustain life. One
can say that a resource is anything that is useful. From a human perspective natural resources are
derived from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants. From a broader biological or
ecological perspective a resource satisfies the needs of a living organism. Many natural resources are
essential for human survival, while others are used for satisfying human desire. Conservation is the
management of natural resources with the goal of sustainability. Natural resources may be further
classified in different ways.
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Based on these, anything under the sun including the sun itself can be regarded as natural resources.
Some of the resources includes; Lead Zinc, Limestone, Tin, Rice, Gold, Marble, Salt, Ply Wood, Palm
Oil, Rubber, Ignite, Oil and Gas, Cocoa, Iron Ore, Coal, Cement, timber, rivers, soil, the sun, ice,
petroleum, salt, animals, plants, to mention just a few. Resources can either be renewable or non-
renewable; it could also be regarded as exhaustible or in-exhaustible. This paper specifically examines
Nigerias water resources, in terms of resource profile and the method adopted over the years towards
optimal utilization and conservation.
Geographically, Nigeria is located in the tropical zone of West Africa between latitudes 4oN and 14oN
and longitudes 2o2E and 14 o30E has a total area of 923,770 square kilometres (km2). The countrys
north-south extent is about 1,050km and its maximum east-west extent is about 1,150km. Nigerian is
bordered to the west by Benin, to the northwest and north by Niger, to the northeast by Chad and to the
east by Cameroon, while the Atlantic Ocean forms the southern limits of Nigerian territory. Land cover
ranges from thick mangrove forest and dense rain forests in the south to a near desert condition in the
north-eastern corner of the country. (Akpabio and Ansa, 2013).
In a research carryout by Aminu in 2000, it was revealed that Nigeria is endowed with abundant surface
and groundwater resources whose availability varies with rainfall, location, and geological formations.
The variation in rainfall determines the drainage regime in the country, the most important drainage
systems being: the Niger River Basin drainage system, the Lake Chad inland drainage system, the
Atlantic drainage system to the east of the Niger Basin and the Atlantic drainage system to the west of
the Niger Basin. While various human activities draw on the surface resources, the groundwater
resource potential in the country has not been fully tapped. This is partly due to the fact that it is
comparatively more expensive to harness groundwater than surface water resources.
The Nigerian freshwater environment consists of a number of rivers and their flood plains, streams,
lakes and wetlands, with the rivers and streams relatively evenly distributed all over the country. The
annual rainfall is however highly variable across the different regions, varying from about 250mm in the
extreme north of the country, to about 500mm in the south. Rainfall constitutes a significant source of
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water, with the annual renewable total estimated at about 319 billion cubic meters during the mid-
1980s (Aminu, 2000; CBN, 2000). The distribution of average annual renewable water across the
different hydrological areas (HAs) is as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Distribution of annual average yield of surface and ground water in Nigeria
Hydrological area Average surface water
annual
yield10
9
(m3)
Average groundwater
annual
yield109 (m3) yield109 (m3)
Chad Basin 8.2 5.6
North West 22.4 4.3
Upper/Lower Benue 83.0 11.4
West Littoral 35.4 9.0
Lower Niger 85.9 13.4
North Central 32.4 8.2
Total 267.3 51.9
Source: Adapted from Aminu (2000).

The major elements of water resources development or management therefore include water supply for
domestic and industrial uses, irrigation, hydroelectric power, navigation improvement, drainage and
flood control, outdoor recreation and fish and wildlife conservation among others. In other words, water
resources development is concerned with the use of water and related resources for better living
(Workie, 1991).
In a research work carried out by Nwankwoala in 2011, it was shown that in the early 1950s,
governments attempt at groundwater development in Nigeria was through the Geological Survey of
Nigeria. But concerted efforts have been made since independence towards the provision of potable
water to the citizenry. The Nigerian governments major intervention in water resources development
came during the first National Development Plan (1962 1968) which saw the establishment of the
River Niger and Lake Chad Basin Commissions. In 1973 and 1974, the Sokoto - Rima and Chad Basin
Authorities were established. In 1976, the river basin authorities were increased to eleven (11) to cover
the whole country. But, before then in 1975, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) was
created. Following the creation of the ministry, extensive water resources development (both surface
and groundwater) was embarked upon to boost economic activities such as irrigation, fisheries as well
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as hydropower generation. More importantly, all these giant strides were aimed at improving water
supply delivery in line with the United Nations International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation
Decade (IDWSSD, 1981 1990).
Beside these noble efforts, the Federal Government embarked upon other numerous intervention
programmes in the water sector, including the National Borehole Project (1980), Department of Food,
Roads, and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) in 1986 -1994, The Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF)
Rural Water Supply Project (1995-1999), Improved National Access to Water Supply (1999) and lastly
the Senate Constituency Water Projects (2001 till date).

UTILIZATION OF WATER RESOURCES IN NIGERIA
The importance of water to man cannot be over emphasized. Man can survive longer without food than
without water. He depends on water for his sustenance. Nigeria as a whole is well endowed with water
resources. Water resources are used in various ways including domestic use, agricultural irrigation,
fisheries, hydropower, industrial production, recreation, transportation, environmental protection, the
disposal and treatment of sewage, and industrial effluents. Water has sources and it supplies,
economic, social, and political characteristics which make it a unique and challenging natural resource
to manage.
The essence of water resources is to provide portable water supply, used for cooking, washing,
sanitation, drinking, for growing crops and industrial productions. But because water is freely available
through rainfall, until recently man has tended to take this resource for granted. Like recreational usage,
environmental usage is non-consumptive but may reduce the availability of water for other users at
specific times and places. For example, water release from a reservoir to help fish produce may not be
available to farms upstream, and water retained in a river to maintain waterway health would not be
available to water abstractors downstream. Water as resource is also used to generate power as in
hydroelectric project and it serve as a good and efficient transportation network. Apart from its industrial
use water is a necessary social amenity. The provision of pipe-borne water has help in eradicating
water-borne diseases and in improving the general sanitation of Nigeria's towns and villages.
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Water resources may reference the current or potential value of the resource to the community and the
environment. The maximum rate that water is potentially available for human use and management is
often considered the best measure of the total water resources of a given region. (Hubbart, J., &
Medalye, J., 2013). According to the encyclopedia of the earth 2013, approximately 30 percent of the
worlds fresh water is in liquid form and therefore potentially accessible for human use and
management at any given time. The rest is either locked up in polar or glacial ice or water vapour and
about the 30 percent of fresh water in liquid form, almost all is held in ground waters. Nigerians derive
their water from surface water (springs/stream/rivers), hand dug wells, rain harvesting, pipe borne
water, boreholes, and vendors (FGN, 2000). An estimated 224 billion cubic meter of water is available,
annually, from run-off of rivers in the eight hydrological zones of the country. Groundwater resources in
aquifers, however, are yet to be quantified (Handidu, 1990).
Water is used in traditional settings, mainly for domestic purposes, fishing, farming and irrigation, and
livestock raising. The principal domestic uses of water include drinking, washing, and bathing (Kuruk,
2005). It is estimated that 48% (about 67 million Nigerians) going by 2006 census (FGN, 2007) make
use of surface water for their domestic needs, 57% (79 million) use hand dug wells, 20% (27.8 million)
harvest rain, 14% (19.5 million) have access to pipe borne water, and 14% have access to borehole
water sources (FGN, 2000). Ahianba, Dimuna, and Okogun (2008) and FOS (2001) posited that
33.82% (47.3 million) Nigerians depend exclusively on surface water for their domestic water supply,
28.27% (39.3 million) on hand dug well sources, 24.38% (33.9 million) on pipe borne water, 11.83%
(16.4 million) on borehole water sources, and 1.7% (2.4 million) on water vendors.
Table 2 summarises actual water utilisation proportions for Nigeria over the period 1991 2001. As
shown in Table 2, over the period 1991 2001, domestic consumption accounted for about 12.4% of
the total volume of water available for consumption in Nigeria, which ranges between 25-50/L/P/day,
depending on its availability. 25% was consumed through industrial production, while agricultural
production through irrigation accounted for about 34.2% of the total. The remainder of 28.2% is
accounted for by wastages the latter reflecting factors of misuse and runoffs. Apart from the relatively
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large jumps in the annual increases in water volume recorded for 1999 and 2001, the data series
indicates that total water available for consumptive did not generally record any significant increase
over the period 1991 2001. Total land under irrigation also did not record any significant growth, as
evidenced by a historical average annual growth rate of 0.68% for the period 1991- 2001. The role of
water as a vital basic need of life as well as in supporting the process of development is recognised by
government in Nigeria. Consequently, government, over the years, and at different levels has been
concerned about designing the most appropriate strategy to address the situation.
Table 2: Total volume of water available and utilisation, 1991 2001.

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH WATER RESOURCES IN NIGERIA
The necessity for man to produce food, clothing and shelter has lead to series of problems with water
as resources in Nigeria. All the activities to survive as man have seriously interfered with the complex
balance in nature. There are large areas that have been denuded of their natural cover of vegetation,
water reservoir such as swamps have been drained, while rivers have silted up. All these activities of
man constitute a profound upsetting of natural order.
Population growth: One of the major factors that affect the use of water resources is
population growth. Nigeria population is estimated to about 150 million according to the National
Population Commission, 2006. There are more people that want more services which can only come
from these resources. As a result of population increase and technological advancement a lot of
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development and activities are overtaken our water resources. The need for food, shelter, variety of
things, and an unlimited flow of water at low cost, have resulted in many streams and rivers turning to a
place where waste are been dumped. Furthermore, this problem also leads to the fact that waste
generated from household, industry and agriculture are found along the water banks polluting the
resources. These are problems produced by our style of living and it leads to the problem of portable
drinking water supply in Nigeria. There are also indirect impacts such as demand on scare water
resources depriving the agricultural sector of irrigation water to produce food.
Pollution is also a major problem associated with water resources in Nigeria. Water pollution in
Nigeria can be attributed to so many factors. Some of these factors are industrialisation, urbanisation,
technological advancement, poor resources management, etc.
There are also a number of specific environmental issues relating to the Nigerian water resources. The
problem of emissions of industrial pollutants from industrial sources, with the main polluting substances
identified to include organic matter, metals, minerals, sediments, bacteria and toxic chemicals. At
present, there are no well functioning public water treatment plants in Nigeria, and the implication of this
is that all domestic, commercial and industrial wastewater is discharged directly into open drains.
Where these drains go into natural water bodies, they have been known to decrease dissolved oxygen
levels, with adverse effects on fish and other aquatic life. Dredging activities on rivers and watercourses
also have adverse consequences for the environment. Among the impact of oil spills are; loss of fish,
crustaceans and other aquatic animals, eutrophication of water bodies, abandonment of fishing
grounds and associated livelihood pursuits, loss of potable and industrial water and its importation or
derivation at extra cost, loss of recreational and aesthetic values of water bodies.
Expansion of business activity is another problem of water resources. Business activity
ranging from industrialization to services such as tourism and entertainment continues to expand
rapidly. This expansion requires increased water services including both supply and sanitation, which
can lead to more pressure on water resources and natural ecosystem.
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Climate change could have significant impacts on water resources around the world because
of the close connections between the climate and hydrological cycle. Rising temperatures will increase
evaporation and lead to increases in precipitation, though there will be regional variations in rainfall.
Reduction of aquifer: Due to the expanding human population, competition for water is
growing such that many of the major water-bearing rock are depleted. This is due to both direct human
consumption as well as agricultural irrigation by groundwater in Nigeria.
Other identified problems associated with this resources includes erosion due to unimpeded run-offs
from rainfall and floods, with sea level rise, inadequate planning and management of the water
resources, poor distribution of water in time and space in relation to man's needs. Also, conflicting uses
of the coastal zone have resulted in several environmental problems. Some of these problems are land
degradation, flooding, fisheries depletion, deforestation, biodiversity loss, introduction of exotic species,
oil pollution, gas flaring and solid waste pollution. Mining and its associated activities are also sources
of considerable environmental damage to surface water and groundwater.

CONSERVATION METHODS OF NATURAL (WATER) RESOURCES IN NIGERIA
According to Siyanbade 2007 in his work, indicated that there are traditional and emerging
environmental management techniques in managing the environment. Some of the traditional
environmental management techniques include; land use control measure (zoning and conservation
inclusive), environmental impact assessment and among the emerging environmental management
techniques are: conservation development, conservation site design approach, water evaluation and
planning system.
The essence of conservation is to ensure sustainable use of the resources. It is aimed at recapturing a
sense of the past, preserving what exists at present and directing future change. It is important to note
that conservation of water is not limited to its quantity alone, but also include quality. There are so many
ecosystems that depend on this resource for survival. However, method of conservation according to
Siyanbade 2007 can be legal or economic. Among which are zoning, national register of historic places,
tax incentives, grants, development right transfer and penalties.
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The challenge of conservation is to understand the complex connections among natural resources and
balance resource use with protection to ensure an adequate supply for future generations. In order to
accomplish this goal, a variety of conservation methods are used. These include reducing consumption
of resources; protecting them from contamination or pollution; reusing or recycling resources when
possible; and fully protecting, or preserving resources. Other approaches that have been used in
implementing environmental protection includes; setting standards to be met in achieving clean water,
coastal zone management. However, major methods of water conservation in Nigeria are;
The construction of dams particularly in drought prone regions and collection of water from
rooftops and storage in tanks. Various dam designs using different construction materials abound in the
country. Use of local materials at chosen dam sites effectively saves cost whilst achieving the desired
result. In areas drained by large rivers, dams can be built to conserve and store water which can then
be used during the dry season thus ensuring a continuous supply of water throughout the year.
The irrigation system is constructed to divert water from the valley bottom streams and low
flood plains with high water table for agricultural production. The technologies include water lifting from
stream/rivers and shallow tube wells using small pumps.
Globally, water conservation is increasingly being based on watersheds. This is done by
restoring natural vegetation to forests or fields, communities can increase the storage and filtering
capacity of these watersheds and minimize wasteful flooding and erosion. Restoration and protection of
wetlands is crucial to water conservation. Wetlands stabilize groundwater supplies by holding rainfall
and discharging the water slowly, acting as natural flood-control reservoirs.
The approach is comprehensive, involving all natural resources and human activities. Implementation
of programs to improve water quality typically follows planning steps. The USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) follows a nine-step process (Stinivasen et al., 1993) viz: Identify the
problems; Determine objectives; Prepare an inventory of resources; Analyze the resource data;
Formulate alternative solutions; Evaluate alternative solutions; Determine a course of action; Implement
the plan and Evaluate the results.
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REFERENCE
Aminu, F. T.: Natural resources and land use. Workshop on Environment and Sustainable
Development, NCEMA, Ibadan August (2000).
Ahianba, J.E., Dimuna K.O., & Okogun, GRA. (2008). Built Environment Decay and Urban Health in
Nigeria. Journal of Human Ecology, 23(3): 259-265.
Central Bank of Nigeria (2000): The Changing Structure of the Nigerian Economy. Lagos, Realm
Communications.
Emmanuel M. Akpabio and Iniubong E. Ansa 2013, Water for Cities in Nigeria: The Governance
Dimension, Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Uyo, Nigeria.
Encyclopedia of the earth (2013). http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/157013
FGN. (2000). Water Supply & Interim Strategy note. Federal Government of Nigeria. Available at:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NIGERIAEXTN/Resources/wss_1100.pdf. Accessed 17th
June, 2010.
FGN. (2007). Legal Notice on Publication of the 2006 Census Report. Federal Government of
Nigeria official Gazette, 4(94), 1-8.
FOS. (2001), Annual Report 2000. Federal Office of Statistics, Abuja.
Handidu, J. A. (1990). National Growth, Water Demand and Supply Strategies in Nigeria in the
1960s. Journal Of the Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists (NAH), 2(1).
Kuruk, P. (2005). Customary Water Laws and Practices: Nigeria. Available at
http://www.fao.org/Legal/advserv/FAOIUCNcs/Nigeria.pdf. Accessed 17th June, 2010.
Hubbart, J., & Medalye, J. (2013). Water resources. Retrieved from http://www.eoearth.org
/view/article/157013
Nwankwoala, H.O (2011). An integrated Approach to sustainable development and
management of groundwater resources of Nigeria. Journal of Geology and Mining
Research, 3(5):123 130.
Stinivasen R, Arnold J, Muttiah RS, Walker C, Dyke PT (1993). Hydrologic Unit Model for the United
States. Advances in Hydro- Science and Engineering, Volume 1, Part A.
Siyanbade Dele O. (2007). Ecological Considerations in Planning and Managing the
Environment. Olive Tree Publishing Ventures, Lagos. Pp 78.
Workie, T. (1991) Multi-purpose development of water resources. In The Role of Hydrology and
Hydrometeorology in Economic Development of Africa: W.M.O. no.301.

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