1.1 Introduction
Water is an essential substance in human life as it is used for various purposes sucg as drunking washing cooking. Human noroviruses cause the most gastrointestinal illness in all regions of the world, with the vast majority thought to be acquired via person-to-person and then by food (Ahmed et al., 2014) given the predominance of genogroup II strains implicated. In waterborne cases, genogroup I is normally implicated (Mathew et al., 2012), presumably due to increased environmental robustness. An interesting finding with human noroviruses and the second most common cause of gastrointestinal illness, rotavirus (although greatly diminishing due to childhood vaccination programs), is the need for certain histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) receptors for these pathogens to bind to target cells (Tan and Viang, 2014).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
World Health Organization (WHO, 2003) stated that about 1 billion people in the world lack access to potable water with a greater percentage found in developing countries. This increasing deficiency of potable water has necessitated the use of water from other sources that are proned to contamination. Consequently, developing countries are particularly plagued with water-borne diseases (Aderibigbe et al., 2008). Therefore, it is essential to routinely examine the sources and quality of drinking water to safeguard public health. These contaminants have found their ways into supplies as a result of inadequate treatment and improper disposal of waste, industrial discharges, underground storage fuel tank leakage, open defecation and surface disposal of hydrocarbon fuels.
Water is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at standard ambient temperature and pressure, but it often co-exists on earth with its solid state ice, and gaseous state (water vapor or steam). Water also exists in a liquid crystal state near hydrophilic surfaces. Water covers 71% of the earth’s surfaces and is vital for all known forms of life. On earth’s surface 96.5%of the planet’s water is found in oceans, 1.7% in ground water, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and o.oo1% in the air as vapor, clouds and precipitation. Only 2.5% of the earth’s water ground water. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the earth’s fresh water (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufacture products.
Water on earth moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation and transportation condensation, precipitation, run off, usually reaching the sea. Traporarion and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land. Not only do certain gut bacteria have these HBGA binding sites but these bacteria may also facilitate infection, as recently demonstrated with human B cells (Jones et al., 2014). Therefore, one’s gut microbiome and blood group impact the likelihood of infection. Furthermore, there is now optimism that a routine cell culture system for human noroviruses may be developed, which would be of particular value to the water-treatment industry. Non-human, culturable noroviruses, such as murine noroviruses among others are used as surrogates for treatment performance (inactivation studies) but there is limited understanding of the validity of these surrogates for any human norovirus genogroup or mode of inactivation (LI et al., 2014; Cromeans et al., 2014).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Water Analysis on Covered and Open Well.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that some common feature of the water-based pathogens is the ability to grow to problematic concentrations within bio-films on pipe walls and sediments, particularly during periods of water stagnation and warmer conditions; therefore, control below some critical concentration is necessary to manage these environmental pathogens. Hence there is need for Comparative Analysis of Sources of Water and Water Borne Diseases.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to analyze the bacteria contamination in opened and covered well water. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the contributing factors of water borne diseases in open and covered wells;
- To determine the bacteria presence in covered and open well in the area under study; and
- To evaluate the quality of water samples collected from open and covered wells.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is bacteria present in covered and open well in the area under study?
- What is the quality of water samples collected from open and covered wells?
- What are the contributing factors of water borne diseases in open and covered wells?
1.6 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.7 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Water Analysis on Covered and Open Well in Nigeria.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
