I.H. IGBINOSA

Access to safe drinking water remains a critical public health challenge in many urban communities, with contaminated water sources posing significant health risks to residents. This study assessed the human health risks associated with household drinking water quality and hygiene practices among residents of BDPA Community, Ugbowo, Benin City, Edo State. A mixed-methods approach combined structured questionnaire surveys of 100 households with physicochemical and microbiological analyses of 30 water samples from borehole, sachet, and bottled water sources. Parameters examined included pH, temperature, turbidity, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, total heterotrophic bacterial counts, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli.The study revealed a predominantly young, educated population demonstrating high personal hygiene awareness, yet significant environmental sanitation deficits persisted, with over half of households located near waste dumps or open sewage systems. Borehole water exhibited the highest contamination risk, recording mean heterotrophic bacterial counts of 58.3 colony forming units per milliliter and total coliform counts of 12.3 colony forming units per milliliter, exceeding acceptable safety standards. Sachet water showed moderate contamination with intermittent coliform presence, while bottled water remained consistently safe. Escherichia coli was absent in all samples. A critical behavioral gap emerged as 64% of residents consumed borehole water without treatment, correlating with 24% self-reported water-related illnesses, predominantly typhoid fever. Poor local sanitation infrastructure enables contaminant infiltration into untreated water sources, creating tangible public health threats. Municipal authorities must enforce Nigerian water quality standards and improve community sanitation infrastructure. Public health campaigns should urgently encourage residents, particularly borehole users, to consistently boil or chlorinate drinking water before consumption to prevent disease outbreaks

Public health and illness prevention depend on having access to clean drinking water and practicing good hygiene. To determine their effects on community health, the Upper Mission community in Benin City's water quality and cleanliness practices were examined. One hundred households chosen by multistage sampling were included in the community-based cross-sectional design. To investigate water sources, storage procedures, treatment techniques, and hygiene practices, structured questionnaires were given out. Additionally, physicochemical and microbiological analyses were performed on 30 drinking water samples obtained from river sources, sachet water, and boreholes. 89% of households have access to water within 100 meters of their homes, with sachet water (52%) and borehole water (41%) serving as the main sources of drinking water. There is a significant gap between accessibility and safety practices, as 80% of individuals did not purify the water before drinking it. With pH values ranging from 4.6 to 8.0, total dissolved solids between 24 and 136 milligrams per liter, and electrical conductivity between 44 and 219 microsiemens per centimeter, the physicochemical parameters mostly satisfied WHO requirements. River water had the highest
contamination (mean: 202.4×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter), followed by borehole water (79.7×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter) and sachet water (43.2×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter), according to microbiological analysis, which found
heterotrophic bacterial counts ranging from 26×10⁰ to 235×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter). River water (mean: 42.6×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter) and some borehole samples (mean: 24.9×10⁰ colony-forming units per milliliter) had total coliforms, but sachet water did not. Only one sample of river water had Escherichia coli. Although the infrastructure is good, there are notable shortcomings in environmental hygiene, handwashing with soap (34%), and water treatment, with 38% of residences located close to waste disposal sites. There is an immediate need for improved waste management systems, borehole maintenance, targeted health education initiatives, and increased water quality monitoring

Water is one of the most essential resources for sustaining human life, agricultureandecosystems (Scanlon et al., 2023). Access to safe and quality water is fundamental humanrights and is recognized as a key goal for sustainable development to be achieved by2030(Vaseashta, 2021). The quality of water is determined by its physical, chemical, biological and aesthetic properties which collectively its ability to protect human health andaquaticecosystem. These properties are affected by various constituents both dissolvedandsuspended and can be influenced by natural processes as well as human activities (Luvhimbi et al., 2022).