Evaluation of health hazards associated with wastewater irrigation in Yola Adamawa State, Nigeria
Keywords:
Wastewater, health risk, coliform, helminth, irrigation, lettuce.Abstract
The study was conducted to assess the health risks from the use of wastewater for irrigation to ensure
a sustainable and safer agricultural production. Samples of wastewater and lettuce wash-water were
analyzed to determine the faecal coliform count and the presence of helminth eggs. Besides, the
opinion of the public was seeked through the use of questionnaire. The data collected were analysed
using some statistical analysis (ANOVA), correlation analysis and simple statistics. The result shows
that there were significant differences (p ≥ 0.05) among the faecal coliform counts in the wastewater of
the study area. However, in the case of the lettuce wash-water, there were no significant differences (P ≥
0.05) among the values of the faecal coliform in the area except that of Bajabure which differed
significantly from the rest. The result also shows that there was no correlation (r = - 0.15) between the
faecal coliform in the wastewater and that in the lettuce wash-water. Helthminth eggs were found to be
present in some of the wastewater and the lettuce wash-water of the study area.
