Population Increase and Water Supply in Nigerian Cities: Case Study of Jos in Plateau State, Nigeria
Pages : 23-31Download PDF
This study aimed at establishing a relationship that exists between population increase and water supply in the city of Jos. The approach was based on the analysis of ten (10) years data on population and water supply in Jos, coupled with the use of well structured questionnaires to generate data from the field. The ten year data on population and water supply where gotten from the National Population Commission and the Plateau State Water Board respectively. The data were used to determine the population trend and the trend of water supply in the city for the past ten years, by eliciting respondents’ views to determine government’s contributions to the improvement of water supply in the city as well as to determine the kind of relationship that exists between population increase and water supply in Jos, using various statistical techniques such as trend analysis, Spearman’s Rank Correlation and filtering in Time Series. The population of Jos was found to be on the increase for the past ten years at a fluctuating growth rate of between 3.183% and 2.5%, the water supply trend of the city was found to be fluctuating in the past ten years, at a point the supply increases and at some other time it reduces. The State government is really trying to improve the water supply situation of the city but much still needs to be done in the area of intermittent supply. The landmark of the research was reached when it was established that there was a strong relationship (population increase was found to be 62% related to water supply) between water supply and population increase of the city; meaning that, due to the fact that water is an independent commodity population seriously depend on it for its survival at a rate of 62%. Thus, various recommendations were made, which, if properly adopted, will greatly minimize the impact of population increase on water supply of Jos city in particular and other cities of Nigeria, in general.
Keywords: Population growth, Water supply, Relationship, Infrastructure, Statistical tools.