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The African developing countries in the humid tropics with distinct wet and dry seasons have a marked and close network of rivers and streams which vary in size according to seasonal precipitation. However, the corresponding systems of water supply and sewage disposal for the population show considerable deficiencies which point to infrastructural and organizational problems. A wide and diverse spectrum of these defects is found in the catchment area of the Ogun River in SW-Nigeria. One of the most densely populated areas in Africa, it is an area of discrepancies which includes the remote rural settlements in the north as well as the urban fringes of Metropolitan Lagos in the south. This empirical and planning study provides the first analysis of the existing conditions regarding the differences in water supply and sewage disposal in the Ogun River Basin.

The spatially differentiated inventory shows that the water supply is backward in many places and a sewage disposal system nearly inexistent. Water supply takes place in several ways: by drawing water from ponds, streams and rivers; less traditionally from wells; and in a more modern form from boreholes as well as from pipe systems (i.e., water corporations pump river water, treat it and distribute it via pipes to the consumers as potable water). These methods of water supply are often differentiated by the social status of the inhabitants, and especially by the degree of urbanization. Waste water is predominantly returned into the hydrological cycle by the population in any way and at any place.

The main problem with all kinds of supply lies in the extraction and distribution of water. As a result of the analysis of the existing conditions, the author makes several feasible proposals for the gradual improvement of the water supply and sewage disposal systems at the studied and classified locations. It includes plumbing the depths of local and socio-economic conditions with a view to sustainable…

Schlagworte

Nigeria, Ogun River, Wasserversorgung, Water supply, Wasserverbrauch, Abwasser, Sewage, Wasser, Geographie