In Nigeria, the majority of residents lack access to safely managed drinking water sources. Only wealthier neighborhoods in larger cities have access to tap water, but even in those communities, tap water isn’t considered drinkable.
Whether you live in Nigeria or are just visiting, understanding the quality of the water you consume is paramount because, as it turns out, your source of hydration could pose significant health risks.
In this article, we’ll discuss:
- The source of Nigeria’s tap water
- The risks of drinking tap water in Nigeria
- Top cities with cleanest tap water in Nigeria
- What to do if your water quality is bad
Is Nigeria Tap Water Safe to Drink?
Access to clean, drinkable tap water is scarce in Nigeria. Tap water is not safe to drink but can be used for other purposes like cooking and showering.
According to a 2021 Water Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) report by Nigeria’s federal government and UNICEF, only 13% of all Nigerians have access to safely managed drinking water services. Wealthy urban populations have the most access to safe drinking water.
The same report notes that 67% of the Nigerian population uses basic water supply services, which are not safely managed. Basic water supply services are defined as improved drinking water sources where the collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip, including queuing.
Of all Nigerians with access to water supply services, only 11% receive pipe-borne water. A mere 4% get their drinking water from a piped source on their property, like a sink tap.
Piped water sources are far more common in the affluent parts of cities than in poor and rural communities.
Even those Nigerians who can access pipe-borne water often turn to other sources of drinking water, as they cannot trust their taps to reliably provide them with hydration. Only 16% of such households reported to always receive enough water from public utility connections or taps. One out of ten households reported never receiving a single drop of water from their taps.
Many city-dwelling Nigerians also reported that they avoid drinking tap water because they do not trust it to be safe. They have a good reason not to: approximately 41% of tap water supplied by urban water utilities contains significant levels of thermotolerant coliform bacteria like E. coli, indicating contamination by pathogens (disease-causing organisms) from fecal pollution.
Without widespread access to safe drinking water, far too many Nigerians inevitably suffer from waterborne diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid.
Pathogens are not the only dangerous pollutant lurking in Nigeria’s water supply. Numerous studies show that pollution from oil and gas extraction, landfill leachate, sewage infiltration, and other sources has contaminated much of Nigeria’s groundwater with toxic heavy metals like lead and barium.
Microplastics have also been found in some of Nigeria’s drinking water. Although the long-term health risks associated with the consumption of microplastics are still unclear, some researchers have raised concerns about their potential toxicity.
Is Nigeria’s Water Hard or Soft?
The hardness of water depends on the proportion of dissolved minerals (primarily calcium and magnesium) that it contains. Unfortunately, a lack of comprehensive water quality studies makes us unable to determine the general hardness or softness of Nigerian tap water.
Households with access to piped water can install a water softener if their water is too hard.
Top 3 Nigeria Cities With the Cleanest Water
The absence of data makes comparing Nigeria’s water quality on a city-by-city basis difficult.
Given the water crisis plaguing Nigeria as a whole, we cannot claim that any city has particularly clean water. However, we do know enough to suggest that three Nigerian cities might offer better access to clean water than others.
1. Lagos
Lagos, the former capital of both Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole, is the largest city in the country and a major cultural, financial, and educational center. It is located in Nigeria’s southwestern region.
Sadly, the poorer communities here suffer from a severe lack of potable water and oil spills that have destroyed their access to clean water. On the other hand, Lagos’s business district and other affluent communities are likely to be better-hydrated, given that most of Nigeria’s clean water flows through wealthy urban areas.
2. Abuja
Abuja is Nigeria’s capital that lies in the Federal Capital Territory, a state in the central region of Nigeria. As a planned capital (i.e. a city that was planned, built, and developed specifically to be a national capital), Abuja is famous for its well-organized infrastructure and its beautiful architecture.
As one of the wealthiest and most significant cities in Nigeria, Abuja’s more affluent areas are sure to have more access to clean water than most other parts of the country.
3. Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt is, as its name suggests, a port city—one of the nation’s largest. It’s the capital of Rivers State, Nigeria’s second-wealthiest state after Lagos.
Port Harcourt’s status as one of Nigeria’s main industrial hubs makes it one of the country's more affluent parts, and its richer residents are likely to have good access to potable water.
Also read: 10 Countries With The Cleanest Water Ranked (Best and Worst)
Who Regulates Water in Nigeria?
Under the Water Resources Act of 1933, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources is solely responsible for regulating water resources in Nigeria.
The Ministry of Water Resources formulates national water policy and oversees the development of large-scale water infrastructure projects. Its twelve River Basin Development Authorities manage agriculture and water resources in their assigned regions.
State governments are responsible for providing potable water to their citizens through State Water Agencies, or SWAs. However, according to the 2021 WASHNORM report, only 28 out of 36 Nigerian states have an SWA, while only 16 of these SWAs are fully functional.
Scholars have pointed to Nigeria’s weak institutional and legal framework for water resources management as a major obstruction to efforts to improve access to safe drinking water. Strong, clear water resources policies are necessary to improve the situation.
Where Nigeria Gets Its Water From
Nigeria is very rich in freshwater resources, although poor management of these resources prevents its citizens from enjoying them fully.
Thanks to its many rivers, Nigeria has vast quantities of surface water. The Niger River runs through Nigeria and forms the Niger Delta as it flows into the ocean.
Nearly two-thirds of the country’s surface water drains into the Niger River Basin, making it an immensely important source of water for the country.
Nigeria’s other major rivers include the Benue River, the Hadejia River, and the Komadugu Gena River. This last river flows from Lake Chad, another important source of freshwater for the nation.
Nigeria also has a great deal of groundwater in basement complexes (crystalline rock fissures), sedimentary basins, and alluvial aquifers (shallow water deposits occurring in floodplains). Many Nigerians access this water through boreholes and tube wells.
Unfortunately, oil extraction and processing have seriously polluted much of Nigeria’s surface and groundwater resources, making it unsafe for consumption without treatment and filtration. Surface water resources have also been contaminated by untreated industrial and municipal waste and agricultural runoff.
Is Drinking Bottled Water the Safest Option in Nigeria?
In the absence of adequate drinking water infrastructure, many Nigerians turn to packaged drinking water to meet their needs. In addition to commercially bottled water, many Nigerians consume sachet water or water packed in heat-sealed plastic bags.
A 2020 study found that bottled and sachet water are the two safest sources of hydration available to the Nigerian populace. Bottled water is the better option of the two, as sachet water is more likely to be contaminated by disease-causing microbes.
However, Nigerian bottled water is still not as safe as it should be. According to another study from 2020, samples of bottled water from most locations around the country showed both heavy metal contamination and microbial contamination.
Are Water Filters Necessary in Nigeria?
Given Nigeria's lack of readily available safe drinking water, it is wise for citizens and travelers alike to treat their water before consumption.
Water filtration systems can remove pathogens, heavy metals, and other contaminants from drinking water. The level of purification that filtration can achieve depends on the type of water filter used—and not all water filters are capable of cleaning the drinking water in Nigeria.
For example, although activated carbon filters can take care of the heavy metal contaminants found in much of Nigeria’s groundwater, they cannot remove bacterial pathogens.
A water filter suitable for households and travelers in Nigeria would have to be highly effective at removing pathogens, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals.
Conclusion
Although Nigeria has plentiful water resources, most of its citizens lack reliable access to drinking water, and very few have the luxury of potable water from a tap. Drinking untreated water poses a risk of waterborne illnesses and heavy metal poisoning.
Wealthy urban communities tend to have better access to safely managed drinking water supply services, but even they rely heavily on commercially produced water to meet their needs.
