Volume 2, Issue 4, July - December, 2025

A comparative analysis of aquifer depths and accessibility to portable water in Western Niger Delta Nigeria

Okezie Uchegbulam^1♦, Jomata Lucky Igben²

¹Department of Applied Geophysics, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria.
²Department of Geology and Petroleum Studies, Western Delta University, Oghara, Delta State, Nigeria

^♦Corresponding Author
Okezie Uchegbulam, Department of Applied Geophysics, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Most studies on household’s accessibility to portable water focus mainly on associated problems of demand and supply with little or no emphasis on the depth of water table in relation to availability of water. This study aims to determine the depth of aquifers in the three selected settlements in Delta and Edo States in the Western Niger Delta region and assess the physical distance traversed by the population to points of portable water. Data were obtained from an admixture of comparative experimental and survey research. Earth Resistance Meter (Petrozenith-Terameter) was used to obtain Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) data and questionnaires were randomly administered on fifty (50) households to ascertain the population’s accessibility to portable water. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA. The study reveals that water table depths of 46m, 63m and 288m for Koko, Ibusa and Ekpoma respectively influence the households’ accessibility to portable water as 31.3% move over 1km to access portable water. Moreover, there was significant variation F (F = 1.267 and 2.067 for Koko and Ibusa; 0.671 and 6.850 for Koko and Ekpoma, p <0.5) in the distance to points of portable water. The study recommends infrastructural development to facilitate the supply of water to areas where accessibility is poor.

Keywords: Accessibility, aquifer, groundwater, resistivity, VES

Discovery Nature, 2025, 2(4), e10dn3139

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v2i4.e10dn3139

Published: 14 October 2025