Investigation of the water-use behaviours of households in proximity to water canals in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Increasing the availability of water is the goal of international water initiatives in low-income and middle-income nations, as most communities are still dependent on unimproved water sources due to inaccessibilty to improved water sources. This study was aimed at investigating the water use behaviours of households in proximity to different locations of water canals in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire, adapted from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene’s core questions on drinking-water and sanitation for household surveys, and administered to 276 households living around the study area. All data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 26.0). Age was observed to be significantly associated with the respondents’ main source of drinking water, household member responsible for sourcing for water, and type of treatment used. In addition, household size showed significant association with respondents’ main source of drinking water, household member responsible for sourcing for water, availability of household water treatment, type of water treatment used, reason for choice of storage container, method of cleaning water storage container, and frequency of use of canal water. These findings highlight the variations in the water use, storage and treatment practices within the study area, and understanding these factors can aid policymakers and health practitioners in designing more effective national and international water initiatives in Ado-Ekiti, especially in the face of growing challenges linked to water scarcity, water pollution, degraded water-related ecosystem.