EVALUATION OF WATER UTILIZATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN HOSTELS, UGBOWO CAMPUS, BENIN CITY, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the water utilization in hostels in the University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus, Benin City, Edo State. The study was carried out using both primary and secondary data. A total of 400 questionnaires were administered in all the 10 hostels in the study area where the respondents were randomly selected within the hostels. Of the 400 questionnaire, 390 were returned for valid analysis. Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), the descriptive statistics was employed in analysing the data. A total of 10 water samples were collected from each of the hostels and taken to the laboratory for the analysis of 26 physicochemical parameters in order to determine the quality of the water being utilized by the students. Findings of the study revealed that the major source of water supplied to the various hostels is borehole and water is constantly supplied to the hostels daily. The study also reported the cases of water wastages due to the delay by the water department in attending to the cases of malfunctioning water facilities and leakages in consumption among other factors. Iron, COD and DO were above the WHO (2011) limit. The study recommended that the water department should take cases of malfunctioning water facilities seriously and the water tanks should be washed regularly.
Key words: water, quality, parameters, utilization, supply, wastage.