Assessment of Factors Influencing Domestic Waste Water Management in Suleja, Nigeria

Abstract

The urban planning system for effective domestic wastewater management in most developing countries is highly constrained. Attempt to meet these challenges in Nigeria motivates the government to create institutions to plan and control domestic wastewater management. Despite these efforts and agencies, the domestic wastewater management problem persists in urban neighbourhoods of Nigerian cities. It is against this backdrop that this paper deems it necessary to critically examine the factors that hinder domestic wastewater management in Nigeria. For the purpose of this study, six factors were identified from the existing literature. The identified factors include; Household behaviour, Awareness, Infrastructure, Finance, Natural factor and Urban planning. The considered factors were based on the expert's opinion. These factors were thereby subjected to the perception of households and concerned agencies using survey questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions on ascertaining the most contributing factors. The qualitative data were analyzed using content and thematic analysis, while the quantitative data sets obtained were analyzed using frequency tables. The level of significance of the variables and dependency was analyzed using SEM (Structural Equation Modelling). Findings revealed that all the six identified factors affect domestic wastewater management, but household behaviour and household perception of urban planning system were the most significant factors that hinder domestic wastewater management in Suleja. Therefore, the study posited the indiscriminate disposal/discharge of domestic wastewater in the study area is attitudinal as many residents could afford the modern facility for safe and effective domestic waste water management.