Kolawole Isaac A.¹, Alao Adenike S.¹, Adika Onyedikachi A.², Nwaehujor Chinaka O.^3,

Access to safe drinking water is the most basic level of requirement for public health; however, most communities in the country rely on various and possibly unsafe water sources. The current study looks into water sourcing and treatment practices of Calabar municipality, Cross River state, Nigeria. A survey of water sourcing and treatment practices from 336 respondents was conducted, studying how demographic factors such as age, sex, educational level, and occupation affected water safety practices. This analysis encompasses age and sex distribution, main sources of drinking water, methods of treatment, educational and occupational categories, and the relation between the education level and water treatment practices. The results indicate that both boreholes and combined sources, such as borehole and packaged water, are in common usage, while only a small proportion of the respondents reliably use any form of treatment, such as boiling. Education level significantly influences the treatment of water, p < 0.05; secondary- and tertiary-educated individuals treat their water more frequently. In both cases, good water safety was associated with formal occupations, of which civil service is included, and less reliable purification with informal jobs and low education. These findings suggest that targeted public health intervention in water safety knowledge, especially at the lower levels of education and in the informal sector, could reduce waterborne health risk.

Drinking water, Calabar, Boreholes, Water-borne diseases, Milton, Chlorine