ONSITE SANITATION FACILITY

This study assessed how the siting of on-site sanitation facilities influences the chemical andmicrobial quality of artesian well water in Ikpoba slope area, Benin City. Eight wells (samplelocations 1–8) were examined, with separation distances ranging from 7.0 meters (locations1and 2) to 15.7 meters (location 4) from nearby sanitation facilities. These distances werecompared with the 15 meters minimum standard recommended by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA). In-situ parameters were takenusing a multi-parameter meter. The results showed that all water samples were acidic, withpHvalues ranging from 4.77 ± 0.03 (location 6) to 6.45± 0.02 (location 3) andotherphysicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity (13.67±0.58 µS/cmat location3to697.00 ± 2.65 µS/cm at location 5 ), total dissolved solids (6.67±0.58 mg/L at location3to345.00 ± 1.00 mg/L at location 4), nitrate (0.25±0.03 mg/L at location 2 to 0.87 mg/Lat location8), and total ammonia nitrogen (0.20 ± 0.00 mg/L at location 4 to 1.10 ± 0.01 mg/Llocation6)were within National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agencypermissible limits. Microbial analysis using the membrane filtration technique revealed that halfof the samples contained fecal coliforms, ranging from 6.67 × 10⁴ ± 2.89 CFU/100 mL(location4 and 7) to 26.7×10⁴ ± 2.89 CFU/100 mL (location 5), and total coliformcounts rangingfrom6.67 × 10⁴ ± 2.89 CFU/100 mL (location 7) to 28.5 × 10⁴ ± 0.45 CFU/100 mL(location5). Elevated microbial loads were recorded at sites where sanitation systems were located within5–15 m of wells, suggesting infiltration of fecal waste and increased risk of waterborne diseases.