HANDOUT

EHS 816: PUBLIC UTILITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

STUDY UNITS
MODULE 1 CONCEPT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
Unit 1 What are Public Utilities? Concept of Public Utilities

Unit 2 Public utilities and its encompassing components

Unit 3 Public Vs. Private utilities in developed and developing world

MODULE 2: REFORMS, CORE RESPONSIBILITIES OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

AND RURAL SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH

Unit 1: Reforms, transformation and benefits of Public Utility in Nigeria
Unit 2: Core responsibilities and challenges confronting public utility companies
Unit 3: Rural social determinants of health

MODULE 3: CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND OTHER

TROPICAL CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Unit 1: Water supply and distribution, drainage, sewage and treatment of sewage
Unit 2 Sanitation, air pollution, power supply
Unit 3 Fire services, climate change and energy
Unit 4 Environmental emergencies and disaster management

Unit 5 Biodiversity and environment

Page 1 of 68
 UNIT 1: CONCEPT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

Main contents
Public utilities; definition
Services of public utilities
Utility networks
State of public utilities in Nigeria

Public utilities; definition

The term public utilities refer to the collection of specific services provided by public and private
organizations and institutions that make up the public services industry. Succinctly, the term public
utilities also refers to the large group of public service organizations that exist to locate, produce or
collect, transmit, distribute and/or process and store, a variety of products and services that are vital to
sustenance of modern life. These products and services are ubiquitous. They include the electric
energy that lights our workspaces and powers computers, appliances, and motors in offices, stores,
factories, and homes. These services also include the natural gas we use to heat our residences, cook
our meals, and supply raw material for industrial processes. And, they include the water we drink and
the treatment and disposal of our wastewater and household and commercial waste, including the
organizations that collect, process, and store our solid and liquid waste, including toxic waste.

Also included are the many organizations that provide some aspects of public transportation and/or
storage are also classified as public utilities. It was government regulation of this class of activity i.e.,
transportation of the public waterways and railroads that were among the first public utility industries
to be brought under government regulation.

Services of public utility

At the broadest level, the services provided have been long been denominated according to the
essential services they perform. These includes (1) public transportation, (2) communication services,
(3) energy for light, heat and refrigeration services, (4) water, wastewater, drainage, flood protection,
and irrigation, and (5) resource conservation through solid and hazardous waste collection and
disposal. The products or services provided by the public utility industry include electrical energy,
natural gas, water, sanitation, waste disposal and recycling, communications, public rail and bus
transportation, and certain types of storage facilities, including public warehouses, and grain
elevators, among others. In brief, these are the organizations and institutions that build and maintain
the nation‘s critical infrastructure while providing the essential services necessary for modern
civilization.

Page 2 of 68
The term public utility encompasses a wide variety of industries including, among others, airlines,
telecommunications (broadband internet services (both fixed-line and mobile) are increasingly being
included within the definition, oil, natural gas, electricity, trucking, cable television (water and
wastewater, solid waste collection and disposal, and public transit). These industries share a common
network structure, in that they have an extensive distribution system of lines, pipes, or routes
requiring the use of public rights of way, often with strong physical linkages between component
parts. In some cases, such as airlines, government owns a part of the infrastructure. Public utilities
typically have substantial sunk costs because of their extensive infrastructure. Historically, utilities,
where privately owned, have been rate-of-return regulated. Utilities are government-owned in some
jurisdictions.

In almost all cases, utilities have been granted legally enforced monopolies over their service
territories.

Utility networks
Utilities typically create a good or service at one location, and then distribute it over a
network where it is delivered to numerous customers for end use. The use of a network structure
creates special issues for utilities. The network often exhibits economies of scale and involves
substantial sunk costs, so the issue of natural monopoly has played an important role in utility
literature. The network may require the use of public streets or other rights of way, so government
involvement is of particular concern.

Since several firms often utilize the network, there are network externalities or congestion if its use is
not properly priced. The activities of utilities can be broken down into three components: production,
transmission, and distribution. While the production component has, in the U.S., been almost
exclusively privately owned, the transmission and distribution stages have been either private or
government-owned.

State of public utilities in Nigeria

Efficient provision of reliable electricity, telephone, water, and in the sector have reached crisis
proportions as the electricity power system collapse became prominent and power supply has
become increasingly erratic. Water taps also remain dry for most of the time, while the
performance of telecommunication and postal services remain very unsatisfactory. The protracted
problem of the utility sector has imposed extremely high costs on the economy. Certainly, the
unreliable but increasingly more expensive utility services since the advent of the Structural

Page 3 of 68
Adjustment Program (SAP) has contributed substantially to lowering the quality of life and well-
being of the average Nigerian who, over the past four decades, has become more and more
impoverished. In response to these shortages, many businesses and households have resorted to self-
provision, often at high cost.

Relief from the failure of public providers often comes through the informal sector. The best- known
examples are private water vendors who use trucks or smaller receptacles to haul water either for
distribution at central locations or to individual dwellings. In some places, private vendors served 90
percent of households, and in several places purchases of water from private sources amounted to
more than 30 percent of household income. It is important to note that a very large proportion of poor
households cannot afford the cost of water from these private sources and has to resort to drawing
water from streams and other unhygienic sources. It is against this background that agitation has
mounted for private sector involvement in the provision of utility.

UNIT 2: PUBLIC UTILITIES AND ITS ENCOMPASSING COMPONENTS

Main contents
Classification of public utilities
Rates/Charges of public utilities
Components of public utilities

MAIN CONTENT
Classification of public utilities
Utilities may be publicly or privately owned, but most are operated as private businesses. Typically a
public utility has a monopoly on the service it provides. It is more economically efficient to have only
one business provide the service because the infrastructure required to produce and deliver a product
such as electricity or water is very expensive to build and maintain. A consequence of this monopoly
is that federal, state, and local governments regulate public utilities to ensure that they provide a
reasonable level of service at a fair price.

Rates/Charges of public utilities

A public utility is entitled to charge reasonable rates for its product or service. Rates are generally
established according to statutes and regulations. The utility usually files a proposed rate schedule
with the state public utility commission for approval. The commission holds public hearings to help

Page 4 of 68
decide whether the proposed schedule is fair. The commission may also require increased levels of
service from the utility to meet public demand. Public utility industries are characterized by
economies of scale in production.

Private utility companies would make decisions that are most profitable for them. Such decisions
generally involve too high prices and relatively little service compared to competitive conditions.
These decisions may or may not be in the best interests of the society. The government or the society
would like to see these services being economically accessible to all or most of the population. Not
all utility companies are in the private sector.

In many countries, utilities are owned by the government. Generally, in these cases, the government
creates autonomous bodies for government utilities to prevent them from day-to- day political
interference. In such instances, the government utilities goals are better aligned with societal goals;
however, they tend to be less efficient than their private sector counterparts.

Components of public utilities

Page 5 of 68
 UNIT 3: PUBLIC VS PRIVATE UTILITIES IN DEVELOPED
AND DEVELOPING WORLD

Main contents
Background to differences in utilities in developing and developed world
Natural monopoly of public utilities
Factors determining differences between utilities
Public and private utilities in developed countries
Differences between utilities
Reasons for the differences between utilities

Background to differences in utilities in developing and developed world

The first public utility in the United States was a grist mill erected on Mother Brook in
Dedham, Massachusetts in 1640. Developments in technology have eroded some of the natural
monopoly aspects of traditional public utilities. For instance, electricity generation, electricity
retailing, telecommunication, some types of public transit and postal services have become
competitive in some countries and the trend towards liberalization, deregulation and privatization of
public utilities is growing. However, the infrastructure used to distribute most utility products and
services has remained largely monopolistic. Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly
owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may
actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative
utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Publicly owned
utilities are non-profit. Private utilities, also called investor-owned utilities, are owned by investors,
and operate for profit, often referred to as a rate of return.

Natural monopoly of public utilities

A fundamental economic principle that differentiates utilities from all other forms of economic
organizations is that of the natural monopoly. Natural monopolies occur when a single firm is able to
supply a market at a cost and price far lower than would be possible if several firms served the market.
The concept of utilities being a natural monopoly came into general use during the Progressive Era
reform movement, when the federal government began its first experiments with ways to control the
perceived excesses of the very large and growing businesses, cartels, trusts, and early utilities.

Factors determining differences between utilities

Two key factors which distinguish the majority of the utility industry from other economic
endeavors are:

Page 6 of 68
 1. Elements of the utility industry operate under socially-sanctioned conditions of
monopoly competition and
2. One or more element of the organizations‘ operations or supply chain are
regulated by one or more levels of government.

Public and private utilities in developed countries

U.S. laws require that regulated businesses be managed in ways different in many respects
from that of the non-regulated businesses. For example, management decisions in regulated
businesses are often subject to public oversight at public utility commission hearings. Public policy
and public opinion expect different conduct in many managerial matters, including the setting of
prices, the mandate to meet all service-area demand, and restrictions on allowed operating profits,
among others.
 Because public utilities provide essential public services that are considered to be
endowed with a public interest, utilities management requires both public and private
sector management knowledge.
 Market economies must often balance conflicting social and private interests. This is
paramount in the utility industry, where there exists a variety of conditions under
which economic activities take place.
 At one end of the range of conditions are the privately owned, non-regulated
businesses that range in size from General Electric and General Motors to the
independent corner grocery store. At the opposite end of this continuum are the
government-owned organizations such as the U.S. Post Office, TVA, and Bonneville
Power; extreme examples at this pole include the nationalized industries that were
often found in many Third World countries, the Soviet Bloc of nations, and socialist
economies such as were found in Great Britain, Sweden, New Zealand, and others.
Municipally owned and operated utilities are near to this tradition of public
ownership.
 Somewhere between the opposite poles of this economic continuum are free-
enterprise businesses such as banks, investment brokers, and insurance companies
that are subject to varying degrees of special economic regulation.
 Also in this group are the privately owned public utilities; these have been on the
receiving end of the most complete government regulation of any industry in the
group. These regulated industries are a diverse group of public service organizations
ranging in size and scope from multinational, vertically integrated energy
corporations to local water and power cooperatives. These utilities have been subject
to government regulation at either the federal, state, or local, or all three levels at
once.
Page 7 of 68
  Most energy utilities and waste collection operations are privately owned businesses
— commonly referred to as investor-owned utilities (IOUs).
 On the other hand, local governments own most of the nation‘s water, wastewater,
and solid waste disposal site utilities.

These governments may operate the utility themselves, or they may contract with private
operators for day-to-day operations; in either case, government utility may also contract with
private firms to perform their billing and customer service functions, among others.

Differences between utilities and other business organizations

Public utilities differ from other business organizations in many other ways.

1. Utilities are legally required to serve all customers in their market area without
discrimination;
2. They are generally neither exclusively profit or non-profit; a mix of both types of
organizations exist, often side-by-side;
3. Utility income often includes a mix of earnings from rates charged customers, stocks
and bonds, and/or taxes;
4. Utilities are economic organizations because there is a cost to produce and a price for
supply of the products, regardless of what form of ownership or governance that
characterizes the organization involved in the industry;
5. Utilities often practice legally sanctioned price discrimination; and
6. Prices for the utility‘s product or service often do not reflect supply and demand
market forces.

1.2 Reasons for the differences between utilities

These differences from other industries occur for a number of reasons.

1. First, unlike other types of businesses, utilities are legally required to serve all
customers in their market area without discrimination; they are limited in this
requirement only by their capacity, and may be required to construct additional
capacity if demand warrants (A Mix of Governance Models)
2. Second, they are generally neither exclusively profit or non-profit; a mix of both
types of organizations exist, often side-by-side, functioning in the same chain of
production or collection and distribution or processing.
3. Third, utilities‘ income often includes a mix of earnings from rates charged
customers, stocks and bonds, and/or taxes. Taxes may be applied in a variety of
different ways. For example, the allocations to the utility may come from a general
fund, as in the case of large, publicly owned hydroelectric projects, or in the form of
Page 8 of 68
 special assessments (one- time, single purpose tax levies) placed upon property
owners who benefit from the utility, as in the case of sewer installation charges to
property owners who may be served by the line.
4. Fourth, utilities are economic rather than social organizations. This is because there is an
economic cost to produce and a price for supply of the products, regardless of what
form of ownership or governance that characterizes the organization involved in the
industry.
5. Fifth, utilities often practice legally sanctioned price discrimination. Utilities are
supposed to provide a common benefit to each class of users, but users do not always
enjoy equal benefit from the products of the utility. Moreover, homeowners are often
charged a higher rate for the service than are industrial users, for example. This is
often seen as an unfair subsidy from some ratepayers and/or general taxpayers to
organizations such as businesses. This discrepancy has long been a source of bitter
debate and controversy. Despite this legally sanctioned price discrimination, prices
charged by utilities to all their customers must be seen as ―reasonable‖ by regulators
and the general public.
6. Sixth, prices for the product or service often do not reflect supply and demand
market forces. Rather, prices for many public utilities are set as more or less arbitrary
mandates by governmental regulatory bodies after a series of public hearings and
supplier justification. In the case of publicly owned utilities, prices are often kept
artificially low for political purposes and do not take into consideration the true cost
of the service. True costs would give greater consideration to depreciation and the
cost to maintain emergency reserves which are mandated by regulatory agencies.
With investor-owned utilities, commissions weigh all the cost data provided by the
firm to justify their rates. In addition, regulated utilities are allowed to add a
legislatively established minimum rate of return to the accepted cost of their
operations.

Page 9 of 68
 MODULE 2 REFORMS, CORE RESPONSIBILITIES OF PUBLIC
UTILITIES AND RURAL SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH
Unit 1 Reforms, transformation and benefits of Public Utility in Nigeria
Unit 2 Core responsibilities and challenges confronting public utility companies

Unit 3 Rural social determinants of health

UNIT 1 REFORMS, TRANSFORMATION AND BENEFITS OF

PUBLIC UTILITY IN NIGERIA

Main contents
Current reforms and transformations in public utilities
Utility privatization in Nigeria
Privatization of public utilities and poverty
Macroeconomic Linkages
Microeconomic Linkages
Affordability and privatization of public utilities
Reasons debarring privatization of public utilities
Benefits of privatization of public utility companies

MAIN CONTENT
Current reforms and transformations in public utilities
By the late 1990s many publicly owned utilities had to either give way to investor-owned governance
or find and implement the economic efficiencies that were expected to accrue from free market
competition. However, not all of the changes to the regulatory system were as successful as had been
hoped. The collapse of a number of deregulated and privatized utilities, a growing number of
blackouts in the electricity sector, and natural gas and water shortages that followed were attributed to
the difficulties associated with utility restructuring. For public utilities in general, many, but not all,
of the problems they faced in the last several decades of the twentieth century have been solved.
However, new challenges to maintaining sustainability have arisen to replace those that have been
resolved. For example, shortages in energy supplies have been replaced by relatively secure supply of
oil and natural gas resources. Regulation of the electric and natural gas utility distribution segments
of the industry appear to be little changed, but with federal regulators concerned with the need to
ensure the security of the nation‘s electric energy grid and extensive gas and fuel pipeline system.
Page 10 of 68
Water and wastewater utilities, nearly exclusively publicly owned enterprises, remain under the often
heavy-handed oversight of federal, state and local governments. Like the entire sector, water utilities
are faced with the need to acquire the funds necessary for repair and replace aging infrastructure
while encouraging consumers to use less of what is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. Solid
waste utilities are running out of sites for ecologically sound landfills while also having to dispose of
larger amounts of waste products. While some hesitancy in the willingness to apply greater regulatory
restrictions on utility operations is apparent, the regulatory movement has not disappeared, nor has it
eased. Rather, the regulatory focus appears to be more focused on rules and regulations to enhance
the sustainability of the public utility system than on rate equability. Regardless of the intent,
regulatory changes require investments. The external challenges to the industry brought on
bypopulation growth and changing climate conditions have resulted in water shortages and stresses
on wastewater and solid waste treatment and disposal facilities. Regulatory developments in these
sectors are also leaning toward maintaining and monitoring compliance with public health standards
in the face of the climate and environmental stresses that now affect the sustainability of the sector.
The telecommunications and cable television sectors, while not discussed in this text, remain
overwhelmingly competitive private-sector businesses that remain under federal oversight.

In the context of economic reforms, specifically structural adjustment programme, in the mid- 1980s,
the Nigerian government introduced the privatization and commercialization programme and
implemented it up to 1993. Even though the major public utilities were known to be poor performers,
some of them were slated to be commercialized under the programme. After about five years of
suspension, the privatization programme resumed in 1999 with the scheduling of major enterprises,
including utilities in the monopoly sector of the economy for privatization in Phase III of the
programme.

Utility privatization in Nigeria

Nigeria‘s public enterprise sector is perhaps the largest in Sub-Sahara Africa both in terms of absolute
numbers of enterprises and the contribution to the gross domestic product. Since the colonial era,
public enterprises have assumed increasingly diverse and strategic developmental roles in the
Nigerian economy. This was accentuated during the oil boom era of the 1970s and 1980s, when the
military regimes decided to take control of the commanding heights of the economy. The sectors
covered include manufacturing, agriculture, banking and finance, services, and public utilities such
as telecommunications, power and water.

The privatization of the utility sector deserves special focus because of its socioeconomic
implications for the welfare of the poor in Nigeria. In fact, utilities are often considered as ―too
Page 11 of 68
crucial‖ to the national welfare to be totally sold to the private sector Furthermore, a complete sale to
foreigners of what is seen as the ―national patrimony‖ by the population is highly unpopular as it
questions both the identity and the sovereignty of the country. Nevertheless, the current privatization
is anchored on the concept of private sector participation in which private operators act as core
investors.

Page 12 of 68
Privatization of public utilities and poverty
There are various ways in which utility privatization can affect the poor. These are
normally assessed in terms of its macroeconomic and microeconomic linkages

Macroeconomic Linkages
Issues relating to growth, employment and public expenditure or macroeconomic in focus, and their
impacts are indirect. For example, privatization can lead to a significant improvement in public
finances through the elimination of unproductive subsidies and avoidable transfers to unprofitable
SOEs, as well as the generation of privatization revenues. If these public funds are reallocated to
programs whose incidence is more progressive, this change can benefit the poor. The situation will
be greatly improved if revenue generated from privatization could be used to effectively expand
national production possibility frontiers.

Microeconomic linkages
The second aspect focuses on microeconomic linkages which are felt directly by the poor. The first
relates to impact of privatization on access to utility by the poor. There is a general feeling that
private sector-led privatization will aggravate the problem of non-access of the poor to utility services
because private providers would focus on high income areas in which they can maximize the profit
on their investment.

Affordability and privatization of public utilities

Affordability is another issue that may arise from privatization. In particular, improved quality
standards may lead to increase in cost of production. This may warrant increase in tariffs and blockade
of sources and types of leakages, such as illegal connection. These may effectively reduce the ability
of the poor to afford the price charged for utility services if there is no coordinating initiative by the
government.

Reasons debarring privatization of public utilities

For a long time in Nigeria, some enterprises, particularly those providing utilities, have been seen as
being too 'big' or 'strategic' to be left in the hands of the private sector. They have also been seen as
having monopoly status, providing public service. Other reasons have also been advanced for not
privatizing utilities, among which are that competition may not be effective , they should not be owned
by foreigners, the employees / unions would be against it, unemployment will result, the private sector
would not provide non-economic services, the need not to lose control of the board or that no one
would buy them. These are some of the reasons for the expressed opposition to the privatization of
enterprises, in Nigeria, mainly utilities, such as: National Electric Power Authority (NEPA); Nigerian

Page 13 of 68
Ports Authority (NPA); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC); Nigerian Airways Nigerian Railways Nigerian Telecommunications Limited
(NITEL); Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST); Water Corporations.

While water supply has a natural monopoly status, electricity distribution and railways have partial
monopoly status. All the others have no monopoly status. All of them are expected to provide
services for direct consumption to enhance welfare or as vital inputs into the production process. But
then, the failings of public enterprises (PEs) or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in most parts of the
developing world, Nigeria included, have elicited so much attention and concern.

Concerns have been expressed that most public utilities do not work or becoming redundant, hence,
new investment is needed and the government does not have the money for it, the government can no
longer afford subsidies for them, political interference in utilities is stifling, no tax revenue is
received, and that most PEs are unable to introduce new technology and techniques and enhance
efficiency.

Indeed, those who have been dissatisfied with the services of public enterprises have argued
that in country after country, unbridled state expansion has led to the following:
a. Economic inefficiency in the production of goods and services by the public sector,
with higher costs of production, inability to innovate, and costly delays in delivery of
the goods produced;
b. Ineffectiveness in the provision of goods and services, such as failure to meet
intended objectives, diversion of benefits to elite groups, etc.,
c. Rapid expansion of the bureaucracy, severely straining the public budget with huge
deficits of public enterprises becoming massive drain on government resources,
inefficiency in government, etc;
d. Poor financial performance of PEs, reflecting a history of huge financial losses,
overstaffing, and burden of excessive debts.
Therefore, it is further stressed, under the circumstances, of PEs being economically
inefficient and wasteful of resources, making significant demands on government resources
as well as on domestic and foreign credit, and low profitability, the issue of privatizing PEs
should be viewed with less emotion. And that the benefits of privatization should more than
compensate for the loss of public sector ownership and control inherent in the narrow
conception of privatization.

Benefits of Privatization of Public Utilities Companies

Page 14 of 68
 The benefits that can be associated with privatization include the following:
a. Reduction of financial and administrative burden of government as a result of
SOEs' inefficiencies;
b. Increasing the availability of services; raising the quality of services provided
and reducing the high cost of utilities, domestic manufacturing and services;
c. Reducing the spill-over effects of perennial inefficiencies of parastatals
providing utilities;
d. Improving economic efficiency and performance in terms of productive and
allocative efficiency;
e. Improvements in public finance through fiscal deficit reduction, and increase in
taxes paid by profit-making enterprises;
f. Possible increased inflow of foreign direct investment with the attendant benefits
of transfer of technology, management skills and technical assistance;
g. Ensuring the enthronement of popular capitalism;
h. Increasing the size and dynamism of the private sector;
i. Broadening and deepening the domestic capital market;
j. Introduction of new technology and techniques, and expansion of service more
quickly to badly served areas; and developing a competitive industry which serves
consumers well.

UNIT 2: CORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES OF

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMPANIES

Main contents
Roles of public utilities in national development
Forces against public utilities
Megatrends impacting public utilities
New trends of challenges and opportunities of public utilities
Challenges confronting public utility companies in Nigeria

Role of public utilities in national development

Utilities play crucial role in the life and activities of people and industries in both developed and
developing countries. Utility services involve a broad range of activities including water, electricity,
transportation and telecommunication. It could be referred as ―all basic inputs into and requirements
for the proper functioning of the economy and those that enhance the standard of living of the

Page 15 of 68
people‖.
Utilities impact greatly on a country‘s living standards, and overall economic growth. Specifically,
water, electricity and telecommunications are fundamental to human sustenance, health, economic
and social progress. Specifically, they affect capacities of the local industries to produce
quality and affordable products that can compete favourably in the global marketplace. It has
been reported that the public utility sectors account for 7.1% to 11% of the GDP (World-Bank,
1994), and the impacts of such services on human development and enhanced quality of life
are just apparently enormous. In view of this crucial role of utilities, governments, all over the
world, are charged with the responsibility of managing the public resources to ensure social welfare
and generation of maximum public good through government monopoly or regulated private
establishments.

Forces against public utilities

Megatrends impacting public utilities
Today there are at least four megatrends that impact all utilities, regardless of size,
location, or sector, and which function as major barriers to their continued sustainability.
i. The first trend includes the changes occurring in the source and type of product
and service supplied. On one hand, the once abundant water supplies are
declining rapidly, droughts are longer and occurring more often, wastewater and
solid waste disposal methods and sites are becoming more restricted, while on
the other, the availability and use of once-scarce domestic supplies of energy
supplies have increased dramatically, resulting in deep declines in prices.

ii. The second trend involves the supply and delivery changes made necessary by
changing climate conditions and for replacement and repair of aging and obsolete
infrastructure.
iii. A third is the growing difficulty of coming up with funds needed to pay for the
improvements needed to meet the needs of demographic changes to society;
federal financial support continues to decline while the ability to impose
increases in rates is more problematic.
iv. A fourth trend is the operational changes imposed upon all public service
organizations because of the security threat imposed by domestic terrorist
activity.

New trend of challenges and opportunities of public utilities

For many public utilities, the financial challenges are exacerbated by the significant drop in service
income brought about by successful conservation developments. Financial needs are growing faster

Page 16 of 68
than income for nearly all utilities. The ability to implement changes in rates or to use a different rate
structure for different classes of users is becoming problematic due to court-instituted changes and
restrictions.

This new edition of the challenges and opportunities facing public utilities was planned as a
way to help bring to public awareness the challenges facing public and private utilities. In the
long run, rate payers are responsible for providing utility managers with the wherewithal to
overcome these and other challenges. However, the book does not address technical issues;
rather it focuses on the administrative legal, political and economic issues that commissioners
and administrators of large and small public utilities must deal with every day. It is also
intended for the leaders of communities, and for the students of utility operations that will be
the managers and commissioners of the future.

Investor-owned utilities and those owned by community groups, municipalities, counties, and
regional organizations in the United States and elsewhere in the world continue to go far in
surmounting many of the challenges they faced in the first decade of the new century.
However, they know their work is not done; the many new challenges they face a decade
later may be even more difficult to overcome. Many of these issues appear to be attributable
to what many scientists believe to be the warming of the climate. A warmer climate in some
regions has resulted in severe drought and overstressed water resources, while in others the
changes have resulted in more severe rainstorms, hurricanes and cyclones. Arid areas such as
the western U.S. and Asia have become more arid while population growth is beginning to
over-tax limited water supplies in many of these regions. There is just so much freshwater
available and many supplies are already under strain. Parts of the U.S. and elsewhere are
undergoing a long-term drought, one for which no early end is in sight. At the opposite end of
the scale, other areas are forced to deal with the effects of weather trends that are increasingly
severe and damaging to existing infrastructure. Added to the supply problem is that much of
the country‘s water and wastewater infrastructure is one to several hundred years old and
buried under metropolitan streets. In the U.S., for example, many of the major mains serving
cities were constructed in the nineteenth century. In Europe and Asia, many are even older.
Much of that infrastructure is beginning to fail at the same time that supplies are reaching or
beyond their sustainability.

Challenges confronting public utilities companies in Nigeria

Two main issues facing public utilities are coverage of service area and pricing. Alternately stated, the
regulators try to balance the competing aims of economic efficiency and social equity. Economic
efficiency generally requires that markets be left to work by themselves with little intervention. Such
Page 17 of 68
instances are usually not equitable or fair (some consumers might be priced out of the market). Equity
issues demand that everyone gets the service at a ―just‖ or ‗‗fair‘‘ price. However, these instances
can turn out to be inefficient. For example, consider the cost of electric utility of having to run cables a
number of miles especially to serve one or two remote fishing cabins that are used sparingly.

In general, the pricing of the services of public utilities may be problematic. As mentioned
above most public utilities are structural monopolies, implying that there is no room for
competition in the market for services they provide e.g., Ibadan Electricity Distribution
Company Plc. (IBEDC) is a customer focused institution. IBEDC is committed to
distributing power and changing lives. Its franchise area includes Kwara, Ogun, Osun and
Oyo states respectively.

It covers some parts of Ekiti, Kogi and Niger states with 22 Business Hubs in Nigeria. However, if
they are left alone to price like monopolies, the resulting price is too high and a large part of the
market area may not be served. While the utility companies have no complaints about such
arrangements, given the essential nature of the services they provide, the society would like to
provide such services to all or most of the population. Think, for instance, about the undesirability
of denying heat to someone in the winter. Hence, their pricing actions are regulated. However,
these decisions are somewhat problematic. If these utilities are mandated to set prices at the low
competitive levels, they may generally end up making losses. So there continues to be an on-going
tussle between regulators and the utility companies regarding a ―fair‖ price between the monopoly
and competitive levels.

Common alternate pricing actions include

i. Setting prices equal to average production costs and serving the maximum area possible;
ii. Rate of return regulation; and
iii. Price cap regulation.

Under average cost pricing, the utility is assured of breaking even, since the prices equal average
costs. The equity aspects are somewhat met since most of the market is being served. However, the
regulated firm lacks incentives to minimize costs. Under rate of return regulation, the regulators let
the firms charge any price, provided the rate of return on invested capital does not exceed a specified
rate. Whereas such regulation is flexible in allowing pricing freedom and frees the regulators from
monitoring prices, a key drawback is that such regulation can lead to over-capitalization. In other
words, when the rate of return is fixed at 5 percent, then the firm can charge higher prices by
investing more in capital than it would otherwise (i.e., 5% of $10 million is greater than 5% of $6
million).
Page 18 of 68
Price cap regulation directly sets a limit on the maximum price charged by regulated firms. This type
of regulation can result in a loss of service area. Sometimes, point of price cap regulation may induce
firms to seek cost-manipulating technologies so as to influence utility profits margin. With
technological changes over time, the nature of regulation changes in that some functions of the utility
companies are ―unbundled‖ and thrown open to free competition. New technologies might make it
possible to break up the different stages of the electric generation process or natural gas transmission
such that competition might be allowed to function in some stages. For example, in twenty-first-
century United States, Nigeria and elsewhere the electricity generation market is relatively
competitive and consumers are able to purchase electricity from competing vendors (generators).
However, the transportation of electricity still remains a natural monopoly and continues to be
regulated. Further, often times the deregulation of some or all functions of public utilities might occur
over time due to political-economic compulsions.

However, Nigerian public utility organizations have been performing abysmally largely due
to employee performance related problems. The problem of poor performance among
agencies of public utility sector has been a subject of considerable discussion.

Page 19 of 68
 UNIT 3: RURAL SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Main contents
Health indicators; Life expectancy as a determinant of health
Life expectancy in Nigeria
Health and major determinants of health status of people
Major determinants of health status
Review of empirical studies on social determinants of health status developed
and developing countries

Health indicators; Life expectancy as a determinant of health

According to HDRs (1990) and (2013), the world‘s life expectancy at birth rose from 53years in 1960
to 65 and 70.1 years in 1987 and 2012 respectively. The reports also showed that the Under-5 and
Maternal mortality rates fell to 55 and 145 per 1000 per 1000 and100, 000 live births in 2010 from 108
and 250 in 1980s respectively. Contrarily, the reports indicated that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
recorded little or no progress and had been having the poorest health indicators up till now than
any other region. This is so because the above reports displayed that the SSA‘s life expectancy at birth
crawled to only 54.9 years in 2012 from 40 and 46 years in 1960 and 1975 respectively. Whilst, the
Under-5 and Maternal mortality rates of the region dropped marginally from 183 and 530 in 1980s to
120 and 475 in 2010 respectively.

Life expectancy in Nigeria

The same ugly picture as that of the region has been painted for Nigeria by the reports. According to
the reports, the nation‘s life expectancy increased slightly to 52.3 years in 2012 from 40 and 46 years
in 1960 and 1975 respectively. The Under-5 and Maternal mortality rates of the country are indicated
to have also oozed to 143 and 630 in 2010 from 174 and 800 in 1980s respectively. These make the
country to have one of the least life expectancy and the highest Under-5 and maternal mortality rates
in the world.

In other words, Despite, Nigeria being the giant of Africa and also one of the leading oil producing
nations in the world, the health status of her citizens is still nothing to write up about. Thus, in view
of the extent and depth of poverty in the land, it should not be surprising that the health status of the
country is poor. In connection to the above, a concerted effort has been made by health practitioners
and Development economists to map out the major determinants of health so as to inform the
investment decisions in health human capital by the policymakers. To this end, they come to term that
it is the interaction and inter-relationship among health services, biological, individual behaviour,
social factors and physical environment that determine health status of an individual (Centers for
Page 20 of 68
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014 and World Health Organization (WHO), 2014).

Health and major determinants of health status of people

WHO, (2003) defined health as ―a state of complete physical, mental and social
wellbeing and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity‖. From this definition, it is
obvious that the determinants of health are three-fold: physical, psychological and social
factors. Thus, determinants of health go beyond biological and genetic factors.

Major determinants of health status

CDC, (2014) and WHO, (2014) highlighted the following as the major determinants of
health status of the people:

1. Health Services: this implies that people with access to better quality-health care services
tend to be healthier than those without. This is self-evident in view of the divergence in
health status of people in developed world and those in the developing one.
2. Biology and Genetics: this suggests that genetic makeup, family history and fragility of
immune system, affect one‘s health strongly. For instance, sickle cell is a hereditary disease
while old people are vulnerable to disease than young ones. Thus, ages, sex, HIV status,
family history of cardiovascular diseases etc., are some of the biological and genetic
variables.
3. Physical Environment: this deals with the how safe, qualitative and sustainable the
environment is; as it is through which basic needs of life are met. If the environment is safe,
sustainable and qualitative, then the drinking, water, air, land and food will be safe and
qualitative. Consequently, people living in such an environment will be healthy.
4. Individual Behaviour or Lifestyle: such personal behaviour as eating habit, exercise,
smoking, alcohol use, promiscuity and handling stress, affect one‘s health greatly.
5. Social Factors: This has to do with education level, income level, family and friends,
ethnicity, religion, occupational status and others; which significantly affect people‘s
health status.

Page 21 of 68
 Review of empirical studies on social determinants of health status developed
and developing countries
With reference to Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), (2014), and Keon, (2009), it was
observed that good health is brought about 15% by genetics, 25% by health care service, and 60% by
the remaining socioeconomic determinants and physical environment. It is apparent that the
primary factor that determines the health of the people is not the medical treatment or choice of
lifestyle but the conditions the people are experiencing. Certain health behaviors, such as smoking,
drinking, poor nutrition, or lack of exercise, can have significant effects on a person‘s health.
Similarly, a person‘s income, wealth, educational achievement, race and ethnicity, workplace, and
community can also have profound health effects.

This conform with a study conducted in Ilorin Metropolis, North western, Nigeria to empirically
investigate the determinants of health status using cross-sectional data. The decision of the study was
informed by lack of adequate comprehensive studies on determinants of health status in Nigeria.
Primary data was obtained from 630 paper-based interviewed administered questionnaires distributed
across Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. The Grossman‘s health production model was applied as
theoretical model. Both logistic and probit regression models have been estimated. The health measure
was self-rated health status. The estimated work suggests that age, sources of drinking water,
residence-type, marriage-type and household size are statistically significant.

There had been a lot of empirical studies on the determinants of health status in the world both at
micro and macro levels, country-specific and cross-countries studies. The studies in Nigeria are not
broad-scoped because they seemed to be narrow on either maternal or children health. But this study
takes the tasks of examining the general determinants of health status in Nigeria. A panel study using
system GMM for 141 developing countries in Asia was carried out by Kamiya, (2011). The results
uncovered that GDP per capita and access to improved sanitation were the strong determinants of
children health status. Education and health resources have positive impact on life expectancy while
risky lifestyle (tobacco and alcohol uses) were harmful to health. These results were obtained in a
panel study with endogenous regression for Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) countries by Pokas and Soukiazis, (2010). In addition, Casasnova and Bori,
(2013) examined the links between unemployment, economic growth, inequality, and health using
random effect panel technique and for 32 countries for the 1980-2010 period with five years interval.
Their results indicated high economic growth and high levels of inequalities explained the observed
health inequality.

Moreover, Imam and Koch, (2004) and Ogunleye, (2012) using Arellano-Bond GMM studied 38 and
Page 22 of 68
40 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries respectively. Imam et al (2004) found out that increase in
GDP per capita and education intervention affect mortalities in the SSA. Ogunleye, (2012) revealed
that alcohol consumption, urbanization, and carbon emission determined child mortality while all
these variables and food availability determined life expectancy in the SSA.

In the same vein, A study of the Measurement and Determinants of Health, Poverty and Richness in
Portugal, using an ordered probit econometric approach, undertaken by Simόe, Crespo, Moreira, and
Varum, (2012). Their results disclosed that gender, age, education, region of residence, and eating
habits were the critical determinants of health status. Also, Lordan, Soto, Brown and Coreavalez,
(2011) conducted a survey of the link between socioeconomic status and health outcomes in Fiji
using a binary probit econometric method. They arrived at the findings that income has positive effect
on health outcome. Individual characteristic, socioeconomic, and institutional variables were the
strong determinants of health status in Colombia. These results were found in a study of the
determinants of health status in a developing country of Colombia using an ordered probit model by
Ramirez, Gallego, and Sepừlveda, (2004). Zhao, Xue, and Gilkinson, (2010) discovered that
immigration category (family class, skilled worker-principal applicants), sex, world region of birth,
education level, age group, family income, and employment type determined significantly the health
status of immigrants in Canada. These were obtained in their longitudinal survey of health status and
social capital of recent immigration in Canada. Saroj, (2004) using a multivariate regression analysis
of determinants of health status in Thailand; brought to light that education, living conditions and
health resources have positive and significant effect on health while the net effect of income on health
was inconclusive.

Similarly, Alam, (2008) explored that ageing, socioeconomic disparities and health outcomes in India
using multinomial logit and found that lower caste, old age, illiteracy, economically dependent
household with lower per capita consumption expenditure, and poor drainage facilities caused poor
health outcome. Income per capita, female literacy, public health expenditure, immunization coverage
and HIV/AIDS prevalence influenced health status significantly in Kenya.

Lawson, (2004) examined the determinants of health seeking behavior in Uganda and using
multinomial logit regression found out that income, education and user fee all have significant effects
on the health status of Ugandans. The significant differences in health seeking behaviour to be related
to age and gender, and that increased levels of education are consistently associated with a transfer
away from government provided health care, possibly indicating that people regard its quality as
inferior.

Page 23 of 68
Muriithi, (2013), used multinomial logit model to determine the health seeking behavior Nairobi and
found out that distance, gender, acreage all have negative significant effect on the health status of the
people in Nairobi. Perhaps, quality of the health care, trust, waiting time, service information size of
household education, age, occupation and user fee all have positive significant impact on the health
status of the people in Nairobi. Also, Abor, and Nkrumah (2013) studied the socio-economic
determinants of maternal health care utilization in Ghana using the probit regression. From her
results, she found out that age, place of delivery, education, household wealth, ethnicity and religion
has important impacts on the maternal health care utilization in Ghana.

Adewara, and Visser, (2011) employed anthropometric measures and regression analysis to examine
the environment determinant of children‘s health in Nigeria using the 2008 DHS data set.Their
results showed that sources of drinking water and sanitation facilities were the strong determinants of
children‘s health in the country. Adewara, and Oloni, (2013), and Ichoku, and Nwosu, (2011)
examined the health inequalities among regions and income groups respectively and using the DHS
in Nigeria and the anthropometric measures. Adewara, et al (2013) uncovered the existences regional
health inequality with North worst hit by the problem. However, Ichoku, et al (2011) exposed that
differences in wealth accounted for 58.0% and caused 33% of differences in child nutritional and
underweight status between the poor and non-poor in the country.

Imoghele, Ighata, and Obasanmi, (2014) realized that income, consumer price index and female
literacy affected infant mortality in Nigeria. This was deduced from their study of a quantitative
analysis of determinants of health outcome in Nigeria for 1995-2010 period using co-integration
testing. Immunization, age of the children, gender, mother‘s employment and educational status,
household size and sector, were found by Adeoti, and Awoniyi, (2010) to be the major determinants
of children‘s health in Nigeria. This was arrived at using Two Stage Least Squares and Control
unction estimation procedures on DHS data set. Ogunjuyigbe, and Liasu, (2006) discerned that
education, wealth status, and access to health care services determined the maternal health in Nigeria.
This was in their study using the 2008 DHS data set. Lastly, Akangbe, Asiyanbi, Nantami, Adesiji,
and Oladipo, (2012) ascertained that level of education, space of family members and safety
environment were the major factors responsible for farmers‘ health in Kwara state of Nigeria.

Page 24 of 68
 MODULE 3 CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND
OTHER TROPICAL CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Unit 1 Water supply and distribution, drainage, sewage and treatment of sewage
Unit 2 Sanitation, air pollution, power supply
Unit 3 Fire services, climate change and energy
Unit 4 Environmental emergencies and disaster management
Unit 5 Biodiversity and environment

UNIT 1: WATER SUPPLY, DISTRIBUTION, SEWAGE TREATMENT AND

DRAINAGE

Main contents
Water supply, distribution and sanitation
Highlight of National Demographic Profile of Nigeria
Brief Historical Perspective of Water Supply, Sanitation Development
Management of Public Water Supply
Importance of public water supply systems
Problems Associated with Water Supply and Distribution
Water scarcity
Methods of handling sewage (Sewage and treatment of sewage)
Sewerage.
Types of sewage
Physical Composition of sewage
Chemical Composition of sewage
Microbial content of sewage
Health and environmental implication of sewage
Sewage collection and disposal
Sewage treatment
Reuse of treated or untreated sewage
Sewage and Algal Biomass Production
Drainage
The Need for drainage
Types of drainage
There are two types of artificial drainage
Surface drainage
Sub-surface drainage
Current Drainage practices
Construction of Drainage system
Page 25 of 68
MAIN CONTENT
1.1 Water supply, distribution and sanitation
The availability of a reliable and clean supply of water is one of the most important determinants
of our health. According to WHO, diseases related to drinking-water contamination represent a
major burden on human health and the interventions to improve the quality of drinking water
provide significant benefits to health. The water crises of the world are not about having too little
water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people and the
environment suffer badly. Water is derived from various sources such as the ocean water
constituting 97% of the earth‘s water, ice 2%, and 1% freshwater obtained from the rivers,
lakes, underground water, the atmospheric and soil moisture. The state of water supply and
sanitation access worldwide is alarming: in 2000, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved
water supply, and 2.4 billion to adequate sanitation, more located in rural than urban areas.

Considering the population growth, these figures are going to increase unless appropriate and
sound measures are taken to reverse this trend. Africa, where 28% of the total un-served
population for water supply live, has a great challenge ahead. As the most populated country of
the continent, Nigeria will be central as to whether or not Africa reaches the MDG. Nigeria, the
―giant‖ of Africa in terms of population and oil economy, has lots to achieve in order to reach
these targets meanwhile it has a rapid population growth. The relatively recent democratic
government has to cope with extreme poverty, low human development, a history of corruption
and decentralisation of responsibility for water and sanitation from central to local government.
These constraints partially explain why the Government has not been successful in fulfilling its
responsibility to provide safe water supply to his citizens up to now.

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources Roadmap for Nigeria Water Sector estimates water
resources potential of the country as 267 and 92 billion m 3 of surface and ground water
respectively. It also estimates the water supply and sanitation service coverage as 58% (87
million) and 32% (54 million) respectively. UNICEF estimates are slightly lower at 47% water
supply service coverage. It has also been estimated that about 60% of all the diseases in the
developing countries are related to unsafe water supply and inadequate sanitation.

About 51% of Nigeria‘s 165 million population resides in rural or remote areas and only
47% of this rural populace have access to improved water sources. Of the 49% that live
in urban and peri-urban areas, only 72% of have access to improved water sources.
Water supply is a basic requirement of life. The availability of a reliable and clean
supply of water is one of the most important determinants of our health. Water scarcity
poses risks and stress for human society. The World Health Organisation (WHO)
Page 26 of 68
 identifies improvement in access to safe drinking-water as a contributing factor to
tangible benefits to health. The provision of water supply systems in the region is thus,
important and urgent, requiring the use of existing, emerging and innovative
technologies that are also sustainable.

Highlight of National Demographic Profile of Nigeria

Population: over 130 m

Population growth: 2.38%

Living in absolute poverty: 75 million (58% of total

population) Life expectancy: 43 years
Infant mortality: 198/1000
Water supply coverage: 60%
Sanitation Coverage: 38%
Human development index: 158
Adult literacy: 67%
International development assistance: $2 per capital (average $21 per capita in Sub-
Saharan Africa)

Brief Historical Perspective of Water Supply and Sanitation Development

The history of water supply development dates back to the colonial era when the first ten year plan
(1944 - 1956) included in its overall budget about 5.7% of total expenditure for the sector. Then,
concrete open wells were constructed under the supervision of Public Works Department (PWD), of
the Regional Governments who were responsible for providing safe water to the rural communities.
Since independence, several National Rural Water Supply Programmes (NRWSP) have been
undertaken notably by FGN, notably among such includes NBP, DFRRI, PTF and INAWSSP. State
Governments, LGAs, World Bank, UNDP and UNICEF among others have also contributed in one
way or the other to the development of rural water supply.

In the mid1970s the World Bank financed Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) pilot projects
in 6 States namely Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau, Oyo and Sokoto Rural Water Supply component
assumed a major part of these pilot projects that have now extended to other states of the Federation.
In 1981, UNICEF included rural water supply and sanitation in Nigeria country programme in Imo,
Gongola (now Taraba and Adamawa), Kwara, Cross River, Niger and Anambra States. Today, 22
states are benefiting from the programme. From 1989 - 1992, the UNDP operated the Rusafiya Project
focusing on the local government with perceived advantages of being closer to the communities.
Through this programme, the rural water and sanitation sector strategy and action plan was developed.
Page 27 of 68
State and Local Governments were also involved in other rural water supply projects.
Other Non-Governmental Organizations in addition to other religious bodies, private individuals and
corporate multinationals like Shell, Mobil, Chevron have contributed in no small way to rural water
supply both in their areas of operation and some other accessible parts of the country.
Programmes initiated by the Government of the Federation include the National Borehole Programme
in 1981. This programme was planned and implemented by the then Federal Department of Water
Resources, to supply water through a motorized system of boreholes to rural areas or communities. In
1986 the Federal Government established the Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure
(DFRRI), with a policy of intensive development of rural areas. DFRRI project, in contrast to the
national borehole programme had the community participation and involvement as a strategy.

Intervention in the water supply sector include the effective rehabilitation of all existing
boreholes and massive drilling of new ones in rural and semi-urban areas and the installation
of hand pumps or similar devices such as windmills, to provide potable water for both human
and animal consumption.

Management of Public Water Supply

Public water supply started in Nigeria early in the twentieth century in a few towns managed at the
lowest administrative level. Amongst the early beneficiaries were Lagos, Calabar, Kano, Ibadan,
Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode (Ogun State) and Enugu. The schemes were maintained with revenue from
water sales with virtually no operational subvention from government. With the creation of
regional governments in the early 1950s the financial and technical responsibilities for
developing new water schemes were taken over by the regional governments who also
assigned supervisory high level manpower to oversee operations and maintenance. The regions were
slow to set up independent bodies to develop, operate and manage the water supply. The first
water corporation was formed in the western region in 1966 which took over all the assets and
liabilities, including the existing staff. The staff of the Water Division of the Ministry of Works was
also transferred to the new corporation. The next corporations were formed in the 1970s. Today,
all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory have water boards/corporations or public utilities
boards managing their public water supply. Their efforts are supplemented, in many cases, by
local governments who supply water to small villages in their areas of jurisdiction. The Federal
Government got involved in the management of water resources in 1976 when the Federal Ministry
of Water Resources and the 11 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) were created.
The purpose of the RBDAs was to provide bulk water, primarily for irrigation.

Importance of public water supply systems

Strategic management and provision of sustainable public water supply is essential and crucial for the
Page 28 of 68
future of the world‘s economy, economic and industrial development. It is also important for
protection and improvement of public health, improving the quality and standard of living, ecosystem
preservation as well as poverty alleviation and eradication especially in developing countries. Though
these challenges are enormous, with pragmatic steps, they are surmountable. Public water supply
accounts for 90% of water supply in middle and low-income countries and serves domestic,
institutional, industrial and commercial functions while domestic water supply represents between 50–
70% of public water supply. Improvement in water supply contributes to health equity by reducing the
link between poverty and disease. It prevents approximately 2.4 million deaths annually and averts
approximately 7% of global burden of diseases and 19% of child mortality worldwide.

In the same vein, provision of public water supply leads to 3.6% increase in per capita GDP growth
along with improved sanitation, contributes to socio-economic development and well- being, increases
school attendance as a result of reduction of water-borne diseases.
Public water supply is one of the indices of human development. In terms of cost, public water
sources are 4–10 times cheaper compared to private sources. Private water sources cost twice the
amount to operate and maintain costs of a piped distribution system. Despite its cheapness,
approximately 1.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water in developing countries
owing to lack of effective large scale water-supply infrastructures.

Problems Associated with Water Supply and Distribution in Developing

Countries
Successful management of any resources requires accurate knowledge of the resource available, the
uses to which it may be put, the competing demands for the resource, measures and processes to
evaluate the significance and worth of competing demands and mechanisms to translate policy
decisions into actions on the ground.

Identified problems of water supply and distribution are:

(a) Lack of adequate information on water resources couple with lack of the technology
and its applications hinder the process of water supply and distribution in most
developing countries of the world.
(b) Poor management is one of the major reasons for poor performance and/or
efficiencies of water utilities and the management remuneration rates are determined
by the government salaries in most urban areas because the utilities are in public
sector and thus follow public service rules. In the past, most government in developing
countries responded to water stress by seeking to augment supply. It was reported that large
scale river diversion programs in China and India underline the continuing appeal of this
approach.

Page 29 of 68
(c) Population growth without corresponding expansion of water supply facilities causes
shortfall in terms of supply. Providing adequate water supply to the rapidly growing
urban population is a challenging task for governments throughout the world. The
urban poor, who lives in poor condition and often constitute the labour source that
generates the wealth of the cities, often have limited access to adequate water and
face increased health problems.
(d) Gross reduction in duration of water supply: ―More recently, in South Asian
countries, above 90% of the population with piped water supply still receive water
less than 12 hours. Conditions are similar in most African countries for example only
11% of water consumers in Zaria, Nigeria receive water for less than 12 hours a day
through piped connection and the mean service hours are 2.9 per day in Mombassa,
Kenya. Access to piped water into the households averages about 85% for the
wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
Consumers residing faraway from supply point.
(e) Pressure dependant flow condition: People living at higher altitude are at
disadvantaged position because of intermittently generated inequitable water
distribution due to pressure dependant flow condition.
(f) Factors such as source limitation inequalities in service provision between the rich
and the poor and access to standard pipe networks contributed to the water stress
condition and poor water distribution in Nigeria.
(g) High risk of contamination through broken pipes or joints and health hazards: Health
hazards are prominent with intermittent supply which entails a high risk of
contamination through broken pipes or joints, and low pressure or even a vacuum
condition in pipelines that last for a significant period of time is usually created by
interruption of supply.

Other challenges of public water utilities and public water supply systems have to do
with technical, social, economic, legal, institutional and environmental dimensions.
Some of concomitant challenges include increasing urbanization rate, inadequate
investment funds, inadequate management capacities and poor governance, inappropriate
institutional frame- works, inadequate legal and regulatory framework. Other challenges
faced by public water supply systems include data collection, availability and
accuracy, inadequate financial resources for effective operations, lack of skilled
technical personnels, urbanization and unsustainable water consumption practices, lack
of monitoring and evaluation of water quality assurance, health outcomes and economic
returns, bacteriological contamination during distribution and storage, poor water

Page 30 of 68
quality, poor governance and stakeholder engagement and migration, technical
inefficiencies and unreliability, over-dependence on government for finance.
Nevertheless, these challenges are solvable using scientific and engineering expertise
with good management of available resources.

1.1.1 Water scarcity

Most developed and developing countries are at risk of severe water shortages in the
21st century if urgent steps are not taken. This is because water supply poses a huge
challenge to most urban, peri-urban and rural areas in developing countries because new
sophisticated sources which are cost effective for major urban areas of these countries
are usually not available. Human development is being driven by clean water, dignity is
enhanced, opportunities extended health improved and wealth rose with clean water. The
crisis in water and sanitation is no doubt, a crisis for the poor, justifying the claim;
it was reported that ―Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water, survive
on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day‖ . Fitness of drinking
water to be distributed is paramount; it should therefore be taken into consideration in
water supply and distribution system.

1.2 Sewage and treatment of sewage

Sewage (or domestic wastewater or municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is
produced by a community of people. It is characterized by volume or rate of flow,
physical condition, chemical and toxic constituents, and its bacteriologic status (which
organisms it contains and in what quantities). It consists mostly of grey water (from
sinks, tubs, showers, dishwashers, and clothes washers), black water (the water used to
flush toilets, combined with the human waste that it flushes away); soaps and detergents;
and toilet paper (less so in regions where bidets are widely used instead of paper).
Sewage usually travels from a building's plumbing either into a sewer, which will carry
it elsewhere, or into an onsite sewage facility (of which there are many kinds). Whether
it is combined with surface runoff in the sewer depends on the sewer design (sanitary
sewer or combined sewer).

The reality is that most wastewater produced globally remains untreated causing
widespread water pollution, especially in low-income countries: A global estimate by
UNDP and UN- Habitat is that 90% of all wastewater generated is released into the
environment untreated. In many developing countries the bulk of domestic and industrial
wastewater is discharged without any treatment or after primary treatment only.

Page 31 of 68
The term sewage is nowadays regarded as an older term and is being more and more
replaced by "wastewater".

1.2.1 Sewerage:
In general American English term "sewage" and "sewerage" mean the same thing. In
common British usage, and in American technical and professional English usage,
"sewerage" refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. Before the 20th century,
sewers usually discharged into a body of water such as a stream, river, lake, bay, or
ocean. There was no treatment, so the breakdown of the human waste was left to the
ecosystem. Today, the goal is that sewers route their contents to a wastewater treatment
plant rather than directly to a body of water. In many countries, this is the norm; in
many developing countries, it may be a yet-unrealized goal. Current approaches to
sewage management may include handling surface runoff separately from sewage,
handling grey water separately from black water (flush toilets), and coping better with
abnormal events (such as peaks storm water volumes from extreme weather). Proper
collection and safe, nuisance-free disposal of the liquid wastes of a community are
legally recognized as a necessity in an urbanized, industrialized society.

1.2.2 Types of sewage

(1) The wastewater from residences and institutions, carrying bodily wastes (primarily
faeces and urine), washing water, food preparation wastes, laundry wastes, and other
waste products of normal living, are classed as domestic or sanitary sewage.
(2) Liquid-carried wastes from stores and service establishments serving the immediate
community, termed commercial wastes, are included in the sanitary or domestic
sewage category if their characteristics are similar to household flows. Wastes that
result from industrial processes such as the production or manufacture of goods are
classed as industrial wastewater, not as sewage.
(3) Surface runoff, also known as storm flow or overland flow, is that portion of
precipitation that runs rapidly over the ground surface to a defined channel.

Precipitation absorbs gases and particulates from the atmosphere, dissolves and leaches
materials from vegetation and soil, suspends matter from the land, washes spills and
debris from urban streets and highways, and carries all these pollutants as wastes in its
flow to a collection point.

1.2.3 Physical Composition of sewage

Page 32 of 68
 The major component of untreated or treated sewage is water. The influent of a sewage
treatment plant (STP) is typically 95%+ water by volume. The other major physical
components include grit and sediment; the concentration of these varies in response to
nature of the sewage infrastructure. Sewerage systems may be exclusively foul water
drains from domestic and industrial premises. However, there are many systems that
include surface water drains as well as foul sewers. In some extreme cases, entire
streams may also form part of the system. In the latter two cases, rainfall is a major
influence on the volume flow. It is possible to determine the Dry Weather Flow (DWF,
the amount of liquid flow produced daily by the total population and industry in the
wastewater receiving area) for a system by quantifying the number of premises and
people in the catchment.
In the United Kingdom, each person produces ~200 litres / day to the sewer while this
value is nearly 300 litres / day in the United States of America. In other less developed
parts of the world, the DWF may be substantially less.
Other physical components of sewage are sanitary products including plastics and rags.
The nature and quantity of these materials is also dependent on the culture of the people
in the catchment and may vary from location to location. It is also possible to find
objects such as branches, leaves, and even animals in the influent sewer.

1.2.4 Chemical composition of sewage

Sewage is a complex mixture of chemicals, with many distinctive chemical
characteristics. These include high concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, nitrogen,
phosphorus, high conductivity (due to high dissolved solids), high alkalinity, with pH
typically ranging between 7 and 8. The organic matter of sewage is measured by
determining its biological oxygen demand (BOD) or the chemical oxygen demand
(COD). The chemical nature of sewage varies widely according to the catchment. In
regions with sparse industrial activity, domestic wastes comprise the majority of the
matter. These materials are rich in proteins, carbohydrate, lipids, and non-digestible
matter.

1.2.5. Microbial content of sewage

The heterogeneous nature of sewage provides an excellent growth medium for a
multitude of microorganisms. Many of these microbes are necessary for the degradation
and stabilization of organic matter and thus are beneficial. The diversity of participating
microorganisms ensures a complex ecosystem will exist during sewage treatment.
Bacteria represent the most abundant form of microorganisms in sewage, with in excess

Page 33 of 68
of 1012 cells per litre. Sewage contains human feces, and therefore often contains
pathogens of one of the four types:
(a) Bacteria (for example Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Vibrio cholerae),
(b) Viruses (for example Hepatitis A, rotavirus, enteroviruses),
(c) Protozoa (for example Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum)
(d) Parasites such as helminths and their eggs (e.g. ascaris (roundworm), ancylostoma
(hookworm), trichuris (whipworm).
Sewage can be monitored for both disease-causing and benign organisms with a variety
of techniques. Traditional techniques involve filtering, staining, and examining samples
under a microscope. Much more sensitive and specific testing can be accomplished with
DNA sequencing, such as when looking for rare organisms, attempting eradication,
testing specifically for drug-resistant strains, or discovering new species. Sequencing
DNA from an environmental sample is known as metagenomics.
Sewage contains pathogenic or potentially pathogenic microorganisms which pose a
threat to public health. By definition, a pathogen is an organism capable of inflicting
damage on its host. Waterborne diseases whose pathogens are spread by the faecal-oral
route (with water as the intermediate medium) can be caused by bacteria, viruses, and
parasites (including protozoa, worms, and rotifers).

1.2.5 Health and environmental implication of sewage

All categories of sewage are likely to carry pathogenic organisms that can transmit
disease to humans and animals. Sewage also contains organic matter that can cause
odour and attract flies. Sewage contains nutrients that may cause eutrophication of
receiving water bodies; and can lead to eco-toxicity.

1.2.6 Sewage collection and disposal

A system of sewer pipes (sewers) collects sewage and takes it for treatment or disposal.
The system of sewers is called sewerage or sewerage system in British English and
sewage system in American English.
In a situation where main sewerage system has not been provided, sewage may be
collected from homes by pipes into septic tanks or cesspits, where it may be treated or
collected in vehicles and taken for treatment or disposal. Properly functioning septic
tanks require emptying every 2–5 years depending on the load of the system.

1.2.7 Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from municipal wastewater,

Page 34 of 68
containing mainly household sewage plus some industrial wastewater. Physical,
chemical, and biological processes are used to remove contaminants and produce treated
wastewater (or treated effluent) that is safe enough for release into the environment. It is
a form of waste management. A septic tank or other on-site wastewater treatment system
such as bio-filters or constructed wetlands can be used to treat sewage close to where it
is created. Sewage treatment results in sewage sludge which requires sewage sludge
treatment before safe disposal or reuse. Under certain circumstances, the treated sewage
sludge might be termed "bio-solids" and can be used as a fertilizer. In developed
countries sewage collection and treatment is typically subject to local and national
regulations and standards. A by-product of sewage treatment is a semi-solid waste or
slurry, called sewage sludge. The sludge has to undergo further treatment before being
suitable for disposal or application to land. Sewage treatment may also be referred to as
wastewater treatment. However, the latter is a broader term which can also refer to
industrial wastewater. For most cities, the sewer system will also carry a proportion of
industrial effluent to the sewage treatment plant which has usually received pre-
treatment at the factories themselves to reduce the pollutant load. If the sewer system is a
combined sewer then it will also carry urban runoff to the sewage treatment plant.
Sewage water can travel towards treatment plants via piping and in a flow aided by
gravity and pumps.
The first part of filtration of sewage typically includes a bar screen to filter solids and
large objects which are then collected in dumpsters and disposed of in landfills. Fat and
grease is also removed before the primary treatment of sewage.
Primary treatment of sewage: Primary treatment involves holding the sewage
temporarily in a quiescent basin where heavy solids can settle at the bottom while oil,
grease and lighter solids float on the surface. The settled and floating materials are
removed and the remaining liquid may be discharged or subjected to secondary
treatment.
Sedimentation Aids: Sewage includes colloidal particles, which may remain suspended
indefinitely. However, these very finely divided particles tend to flocculate with the aid
of mechanical agitation, aeration, or chemical coagulation. The quality of the final
effluent can thus be significantly increased. Mechanical flocculation is normally
achieved in double-zone tanks incorporating an inner mixing zone (paddles rotating at
≤450 mm/s) and another conventional settlement zone (e.g., the Dorr Clariflocculator,
which gives 20% better effluent than that obtained by plain sedimentation at very little
extra cost).
Chemical coagulants in common use are as follows:
(a) Hydrated lime: Ca(OH)2
Page 35 of 68
 (b) Aluminum sulfate: A12(SO4)3
(c) Iron (II) sulphate: FeSO4
However, the misuse of chemicals can sterilize sewage or at least slow down the
biological degradation rate. Sedimentation aids are usually unnecessary for most wetland
system due to the presence of plants that slow down the flow velocity of the storm
runoff.

1.2.8 Reuse of treated or untreated sewage

Sewage can be converted to biogas using anaerobic digestion. Increasingly, agriculture is
using untreated wastewater for irrigation. Cities provide lucrative markets for fresh
produce, so are attractive to farmers. Because agriculture has to compete for increasingly
scarce water resources with industry and municipal users, there is often no alternative for
farmers but to use water polluted with urban waste, including sewage, directly to water
their crops. There can be significant health hazards related to using water loaded with
pathogens in this way, especially if people eat raw vegetables that have been irrigated
with the polluted water.
The International Water Management Institute has worked in India, Pakistan, Vietnam,
Ghana, Ethiopia, Mexico and other countries on various projects aimed at assessing and
reducing risks of wastewater irrigation. They advocate a ‗multiple-barrier‘ approach to
wastewater use, where farmers are encouraged to adopt various risk-reducing
behaviours. These include ceasing irrigation a few days before harvesting to allow
pathogens to die off in the sunlight, applying water carefully so it does not contaminate
leaves likely to be eaten raw, cleaning vegetables with disinfectant or allowing faecal
sludge used in farming to dry before being used as a human manure. The World Health
Organization has developed guidelines for safe water use.

1.2.9 Sewage and Algal Biomass Production

Sewage is the most favourable medium for algae production. It provides all the
necessary nutrients needed for algal growth. New Zealand‘s Aqua-flow Bionomic
Corporation has become the World‘s first producer of biofuel from sewage-pond-grown
algae. One particular advantage of the human-sewage approach is that algae from
sewage tends to have a lot of oil according to Cary Bullock, CEO of Greenfuel
Technologies, a company cultivating algae to convert emissions into biofuel.
Bacteria digestion of organics is the known method to reduce BOD, COD, TSS, TDS,
etc. in Sewage. Anaerobic bacteria proliferate in untreated sewage giving rise to H 2S gas
that produces the obnoxious smell. Aerobic bacteria require plenty of dissolved oxygen
to do the organic digestion. Untreated sewage is let out into the nearest water bodies
Page 36 of 68
where anaerobic bacteria slowly consume the organics and produce H 2S that gives rise to
bad smell. Further the waters become infested with water weeds and plants like hyacinth.
These then become the breeding place of mosquitoes and disease producing organisms.
Utilization of domestic sewage for algal biomass production has been studied
extensively by employing a variety of micro algal species.

1.3 Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water
from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is
good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root
growth), but many soils need artificial drainage to improve production or to manage
water supplies.

1.3.1 The Need for drainage

During rain or irrigation, the fields become wet. Water then infiltrates into the soil and is
stored in its pores. When all the pores are filled with water, the soil is said to be saturated
and no more water can be absorbed; when rain or irrigation continues, pools may form
on the soil surface. Part of the water present in the saturated upper soil layers flows
downward into deeper layers and is replaced by water infiltrating from the surface pools.
When there is no more water left on the soil surface, the downward flow continues for a
while and air re-enters in the pores of the soil. This soil is not saturated anymore.
However, saturation may have lasted too long for the plants' health. Plant roots require
air as well as water and most plants cannot withstand saturated soil for long periods (rice
is an exception).
Besides damage to the crop, a very wet soil makes the use of machinery difficult, if not
impossible. The water flows from the saturated soil downward to deeper layers and feeds
the groundwater reservoir. As a result, the groundwater level (often called groundwater
table or simply water table) rises. Following heavy rainfall or continuous over-irrigation,
the groundwater table may even reach and saturate part of the root zone. Again, if this
situation lasts too long, the plants may suffer. Measures to control the rise of the water
table are thus necessary. The removal of excess water either from the ground surface or
from the root zone, is called drainage. Excess water may be caused by rainfall or by
using too much irrigation water, but may also have other origins such as canal seepage or
floods. In very dry areas there is often accumulation of salts in the soil. Most crops do
not grow well on salty soil. Salts can be washed out by percolating irrigation water
through the root zone of the crops. To achieve sufficient percolation, farmers will apply
more water to the field than the crops need. But the salty percolation water will cause the
Page 37 of 68
water table to rise. Drainage to control the water table, therefore, also serves to control
the salinity of the soil.

1.3.2 Types of drainage

1. Natural
2. Artificial
Many areas have some natural drainage; this means that excess water flows from the
farmers' fields to swamps or to lakes and rivers. Natural drainage, however, is often
inadequate and artificial or man-made drainage is required.

1.3.3 There are two types of artificial drainage:

Surface drainage and Sub-surface drainage

1.3.4 Surface drainage

Surface drainage is the removal of excess water from the surface of the land. This is normally
accomplished by shallow ditches, also called open drains. The shallow ditches discharge into
larger and deeper collector drains. In order to facilitate the flow of excess water toward the drains,
the field is given an artificial slope by means of land grading.

1.3.5 Sub-surface drainage

Subsurface drainage is the removal of water from the root zone. It is accomplished by
deep open drains or buried pipe drains.
i. Deep open drains: The excess water from the root zone flows into the open
drains. The disadvantage of this type of subsurface drainage is that it makes the
use of machinery difficult.
ii. Pipe drains: Pipe drains are buried pipes with openings through which the soil
water can enter. The pipes convey the water to a collector drain. Drain pipes are
made of clay, concrete or plastic. They are usually placed in trenches by
machines. In clay and concrete pipes (usually 30 cm long and 5 - 10 cm in
diameter) drainage water enters the pipes through the joints. Flexible plastic
drains are much longer (up to 200 m) and the water enters through perforations
distributed over the entire length of the pipe.
iii. Deep open drains versus pipe drains: Open drains use land that otherwise could
be used for crops. They restrict the use of machines. They also require a large
number of bridges and culverts for road crossings and access to the fields. Open
drains require frequent maintenance (weed control, repairs, etc.).
In contrast to open drains, buried pipes cause no loss of cultivable land and maintenance

Page 38 of 68
requirements are very limited. The installation costs, however, of pipe drains may be
higher due to the materials, the equipment and the skilled manpower involved.

1.3.6 Current Drainage practices

New drainage systems incorporate geotextile filters that retain and prevent fine grains of
soil from passing into and clogging the drain. Geotextiles are synthetic textile fabrics
specially manufactured for civil and environmental engineering applications. Geotextiles
are designed to retain fine soil particles while allowing water to pass through. In a
typical drainage system, they would be laid along a trench which would then be filled
with coarse granular material: gravel, sea shells, stone or rock. The geotextile is then
folded over the top of the stone and the trench is then covered by soil. Groundwater
seeps through the geotextile and flows through the stone to an outfall. In high
groundwater conditions a perforated plastic (PVC or PE) pipe is laid along the base of
the drain to increase the volume of water transported in the drain.

1.3.7 Construction of Drainage system

Drainage systems are constructed to ensure that waste water and sewage is transported
neatly to disposal points, thereby keeping the environment well drained and free of
waste. The following examples make up a good drainage system; drainage pipes, closed
ditches having pipe drains, channels and conduits. Nigerian coastal cities are daily
overwhelmed with flood waters, and millions of properties have been destroyed and
lives lost. Poor drainage systems are often associated with street flooding, and this has
become critical environmental problems in coastal cities of Nigeria such as Lagos, Port
Harcourt, Ondo, Warri, Uyo, and Calabar.

These towns which are quite close to the Atlantic Ocean experience heavy flooding
especially during the rainy season. However, it is not waters from the Ocean that usually
floods these cities but the heavy rains, and the low nature of the topography and the poor
drainage networks. Major causes of street flooding in Nigerian cities includes land use
problems, increased paved surfaces, river channel encroachments, poor waste disposal
techniques, physical development control problems, gaps in basic hydrological data and
cultural problems.

Page 39 of 68
UNIT 2: SANITATION, AIR POLLUTION AND POWER SUPPLY

Main contents
Sanitation
Benefits of improving sanitation
Types of sanitation
Basic sanitation
Container-based sanitation
Community-led total sanitation
Dry sanitation
Ecological sanitation
Emergency sanitation
Environmental sanitation
Air pollution
Causes of air pollution
Anthropogenic air pollution sources
Sources from processes other than combustion
Natural sources of air pollution
Power supply
Power sector reforms in Nigeria

1.1 SANITATION
The word ― sanitation‖ refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through
services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal. Sanitation refers to a
generalised conditions associated to clean drinking water and adequate treatment and
Page 40 of 68
disposal of human excreta and waste water. These include latrines or toilets to manage
waste, food preparation, washing stations, effective drainage and other such
mechanisms.

In many health care establishments in developing countries patients have no access to

sanitation facilities. Excreta are usually disposed of in the environment, creating a high
direct or indirect risk of infection to other people. Human excreta are the principal
vehicle for the transmission and spread of a wide range of communicable diseases, and
excreta from hospital patients may be expected to contain far higher concentrations of
pathogens, and therefore to be far more infectious than excreta from households. The
challenge in sanitation include poor access to improved water and sanitation in Nigeria
which remains a major contributing factor to high morbidity and mortality rates among
children under five.
The use of contaminated drinking water and poor sanitary conditions result in increased
vulnerability to water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea which leads to deaths of more
than 70,000 children under five annually. Seventy-three per cent of the diarrhoeal and
enteric disease burden is associated with poor access to adequate water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH). Diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low
levels of sanitation are ascariasis ( intestinal worm), typhoid ,cholera, hepatitis, polio,
schistosomiasis, and trachoma.

The following sanitation approaches exists and they includes community-led total
sanitation, container-based sanitation, ecological sanitation, emergency sanitation,
environmental sanitation, onsite sanitation and sustainable sanitation. A sanitation
system includes the capture, storage, transport, treatment and disposal or wastewater.
The purposes of sanitation are to provide a healthy living environment for everyone, to
protect the natural resources and to provide safety, security and dignity for people when
they defecate or urinate.

1.2 Benefits of of improving sanitation

These include:
1. It prevent the spread of intestinal worms, schistosomiasis and trachoma, which
are neglected tropical diseases that cause suffering for millions;
2. It reduce the severity and impact of malnutrition;
3. The promotion of dignity and boosting safety, particularly among women and girls;
4. The promotion of school attendance: girls‘ school attendance is particularly boosted

Page 41 of 68
 by the provision of separate sanitary facilities; and
5. The potential recovery of water, renewable energy and nutrients from faecal waste.

1.3 TYPES OF SANITATION

 Basic sanitation
This is defined as the use of effective and improved sanitation facilities that are not
shared with other households in a particular community. This tend to minimise the
transmission of disease among individuals from different housholds, also it aids in
diagnostic approaches to certain ailments which could result due to unsanitary
conditions.

 Container-based sanitation
CBS refers to a system where human excreta is collected in sealable, removable
containers (that are transported to treatment facilities. Container-based sanitation is
usually provided as a service involving provision of certain types of portable toilets, and
collection of excreta at a cost borne by the users. With suitable development, support and
functioning partnerships, CBS can be used to provide low-income urban populations
with safe collection, transport and treatment of excrement at a lower cost than installing
and maintaining sewers. In most cases, CBS is based on the use of urine diverting dry
toilet.

 Community-led total sanitation

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an intervention approach to rural inhabitants
which achieve behaviour change by a process of "triggering", leading to spontaneous
and long-term abandonment of open defecation practices. CLTS takes an approach to
rural sanitation that works without hardware subsidies and that facilitates communities to
recognize the problem of open defecation and take collective action to clean up and
become "open defecation free".

 Dry sanitation
The term "dry sanitation" is not in widespread use and is not very well defined. It usually
refers to a system that uses a type of dry toilet and no sewers to transport excreta. Often
when people speak of "dry sanitation" they mean a sanitation system that uses urine-
diverting dry toilet.

 Ecological sanitation
Ecological sanitation, which is commonly abbreviated to ecosan, is an approach, rather

Page 42 of 68
than a technology or a device which is characterized by a desire to "close the loop"
(mainly for the nutrients and organic matter) between sanitation and agriculture in a safe
manner. Put in other words: "Ecosan systems safely recycle excreta resources (plant
nutrients and organic matter) to crop production in such a way that the use of non-
renewable resources is minimised". When properly designed and operated, ecosan
systems provide a hygienically safe, economical, and closed-loop system to convert
human excreta into nutrients to be returned to the soil, and water to be returned to the
land. Ecosan is also called resource-oriented sanitation

 Emergency sanitation
Emergency sanitation is required in situations including natural disasters and relief for
refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. There are three phases: Immediate, short term
and long term. In the immediate phase, the focus is on managing open defecation, and
toilet technologies might include very basic latrines, pit latrines, bucket toilets,
container-based toilets, chemical toilets. The short term phase might also involve
technologies such as urine- diverting dry toilets, septic tanks, decentralized wastewater
systems. Providing handwashing facilities and management of fecal sludge are also part
of emergency sanitation. The Sphere Project handbook provides protection principles
and core standards for sanitation to put in place after a disaster or conflict.

 Environmental sanitation
Environmental sanitation encompasses the control of environmental factors that are
connected to disease transmission. Subsets of this category are solid waste management,
water and wastewater treatment, industrial waste treatment and noise pollution control.

1.4 AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution is the release of pollutants or contaminants into the air that are detrimental
to human health and the planet as a whole. It occurs when harmful or excessive
quantities of substances including gases (such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and chlorofluorocarbons), particulates (both
organic and inorganic), and biological molecules are introduced into atmosphere. More
so, car emissions, chemicals from factories, dust, pollen and mold spores may be
suspended as particles. Ozone, a gas, is a major part of air pollution in cities.

1.4 CAUSES OF AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution is caused by the presence in the atmosphere of toxic substances, mainly
produced by human activities, even though sometimes it can result from natural
Page 43 of 68
phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, dust storms and wildfires, also depleting the air
quality.

 Anthropogenic air pollution sources

1. Combustion of fossil fuels, like coal and oil for electricity and road transport,
producing air pollutants like nitrogen and sulfur dioxide
2. Emissions from industries and factories, releasing large amount of carbon
monoxide, hydrocarbon, chemicals and organic compounds into the air
3. Agricultural activities, due to the use of pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers that
emit harmful chemicals

 Sources from processes other than combustion

1. Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents. These can
be substantial; emissions from these sources was estimated to account for almost half
of pollution from volatile organic compounds
2. Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane. Methane is highly flammable
and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiant and may
displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the
oxygen concentration is reduced to below 19.5% by displacement.
3. Military resources, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry.
4. Fertilized farmland may be a major source of nitrogen oxides.

 Natural sources of air pollution

1. Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little vegetation
or no vegetation
2. Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle
3. Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust. Radon is a colorless,
odorless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of
radium. It is considered to be a health hazard. Radon gas from natural sources can
accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as the basement and it is
the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking.
4. Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires.
5. Vegetation, in some regions, emits environmentally significant amounts of Volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) on warmer days. These VOCs react with primary
anthropogenic pollutants—specifically, NO2, SO2, and anthropogenic organic carbon.
6. Volcanic activity, which produces sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates

Page 44 of 68
1.5 POWER SUPPLY
A power supply is a component that supplies power to at least one electric load.
Typically, it converts one type of electrical power to another, but it may also convert a
different form of energy – such as solar, mechanical, or chemical - into electrical energy.
A power supply provides components with electric power. The term usually pertains to
devices integrated within the component being powered. For example, computer power
supplies convert AC current to DC current and are generally located at the rear of the
computer case, along with at least one fan.
A power supply is also known as a power supply unit, power brick or power adapter. All
power supplies have a power input connection, which receives energy in the form of
electric current from a source, and one or more power output connections that deliver
current to the load. The source power may come from the electric power grid, such as an
electrical outlet, energy storage devices such as batteries or fuel cells, generators or
alternators, solar power converters, or another power supply. The input and output are
usually hardwired circuit connections, though some power supplies employ wireless
energy transfer to power their loads without wired connections.

 Power sector reforms in Nigeria

The sectors - power, telecoms, ports, and oil and gas - are at various stages of reforms.
The reform actions taken so far in power sector in Nigeria are highlighted as follows:
1. Objectives defined for the power sector reform;
2. A power policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council on March 28, 2001;
3. A draft Electric Power Sector Reform Bill was approved by the Federal Executive
Council and submitted to the National Assembly for enactment in September 2001.
The passage of the Bill (not passed as at September, 2004) is said to be paramount to
the establishment of a transparent power sector in Nigeria. The Bill creates a sector
regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission responsible for tariff
regulation, and economic and technical regulation of the electricity supply industry;
and
4. Approval on August 26th, 2002 by the National Council on Privatization, of the
implementation of the blueprint for the restructuring of NEPA.

The restructuring entailing unbundling of NEPA, will involve the creation of six
Generation Companies (Gencos); an independent Transmission Company; and eleven
Distribution/Marketing Companies (Discos) matching NEPA's existing zonal structure,
with the exception that the high demand and revenue - yielding Lagos zone will be

Page 45 of 68
restructured into two separate companies. The establishment of these companies will be
followed later by divestiture of the Federal Government's interests in the Discos
followed by the Gencos. The BPE is currently considering a post-restructuring strategy
of putting management contracts in place in some of the new companies. Also, it is said
to be working hand in hand with both the Ministry of Power and Steel and NEPA
towards the implementation of the restructuring blueprint.
As it were, the outstanding activities are still many, including the passage of the Power
Bill; restructuring of NEPA; establishment of the National Electricity Regulatory
Commission and a Special Purpose Entity (to hold and pay off NEPA's major financial
and trading liabilities); development of the Rural Energy Policy; finalization of the
Transition Market Rules; and privatization of the individual power companies.

UNIT 3: FIRE SERVICE, CLIMATE CHANGE AND

ENERGY

Main contents

Fire safety needs

Prevention of fire
Preventive measures
Fire safety strategies
Fire protection equipment
Automatic fire detection system
Automatic sprinkler system
Automatic release mechanism
Automatic self-closing device
Basement
Boundary
Cavity
Ceiling
Circulation space
Common fire hazards
Climate Change and energy
Climate change and adaptation
Assessing impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
Page 46 of 68
 Information gathering – data, systematic observation and monitoring
Information analysis – reporting of impacts, vulnerability, adaptation
Regional impacts of and vulnerabilities to climate change
Adaptation to climate change
Adaptation strategies, plans and programmes
Adaptation measures in key vulnerable sectors
Impacts of Climate Change on the Millennium Development Goals

1.1 FIRE SAFETY NEEDS

If a fire does take place, it is essential that occupants become aware of it as soon as possible
and have awareness of the actions they need to take to move to a place of safety. This
requires knowledge of the safety provisions which have been made and an easy identification
of the route to follow to reach safety outside the building. In large and complex buildings this
may be a progressive progress through areas of increasing safety. It is not normally expected
that the occupants will use on-site amenities to control a fire but where these are available it
is possible that use can be made of them to deal with a small fire and quench it.

1.2 PREVENTION OF FIRE

Studies of fires have shown that most accidental fires start from three main causes namely;
1. Malfunctioning of equipment
2. Misuse of heat sources
3. Human error
By paying attention to simple safety measures it is possible to reduce the chance of a fire
starting and thereby increase fire safety. The Code is not intended to provide full details
of these precautions as they are properly dealt with in other standards and specifications.
It however draws attention to these in general terms to offer a basis for more positive
actions.
As far as the prevention of human error is concerned, it is primarily a question of
education and management. It is in the interests of the owners and managers of premises
to ensure that the building occupants have knowledge of fire hazards and are encouraged
to be careful in the handling of heat sources and equipment to prevent a fire starting.

1.3 PREVENTIVE MEASURES AND REQUIREMENTS

1. Enforce good housekeeping practices; this includes implementing routines for the
regular taking away and disposal of waste
2. Establish and maintain out-of-hours inspection and security procedures, including
means of preventing arson

Page 47 of 68
3. Carry out routine checks, inspections, and tests, including monitoring the
maintenance of heat generating equipment that could cause fires, chafing of cables,
self-heating of cables due to electrical resistance and checks on fuel supplies and
storage.
4. Issue and control work permits and associated procedures
5. Instruct and supervise contractors and sub-contractors carrying out construction and
maintenance operations within the building
6. Avoid conditions leading to gas and dust explosion hazards
7. Maintain integration with other systems (e.g. ventilation, communications).
8. All fixed equipment which generates heat or utilizes energy, such as heaters,
cookers, refrigeration units etc., shall be installed according to the provisions
contained in the standards dealing with their use in buildings.
9. The equipment shall be maintained in good working order and no repairs or
modifications shall be carried out by unqualified people.
10. All operations which can be potentially hazardous shall be carried out in a safe
manner by staff trained to undertake such operations
11. Operations which require the use of flammable materials shall be controlled so that
only a small quantity of material necessary for the operation is present and the rest
is kept in a safe place from which it can be withdrawn as needed. Such materials shall be
stored in a detached protected place with limited access to specified personnel.
12. There shall be a ban on smoking in those areas where flammable materials are present
e.g. in stores, factories using or producing such materials. In such cases special
facilities shall be made available for the staff who need to smoke.
13. Smoking and the use of naked flames should also be prohibited from premises where
a fire can cause special problems for the escape of people, such as cinema, theatres,
hospital wards, public transport etc. Notices shall be displayed to draw attention to
the sanction on smoking and where the ambient light conditions are poor the notices
shall be illuminated.
14. Cooking appliances using bottled gas should be well installed with connections made
to a good standard if possible the cylinder shall be located in a protected place at a
safe distance from the appliance.
15. Spare gas cylinders shall be kept in a safe place away from the appliance.
16. In organizations where more than 20 people work the management shall draw
attention of the staff to the risk of a fire and hold regular drills and instruction
courses to advise them of the safe measures to use. Large organizations shall have
specially appointed people with responsibility for safety.

Page 48 of 68
1.4 FIRE SAFETY STRATEGIES
1.4.1 Fire protection equipment
Fire extinguishers, fire hose reels, fire hydrants, hydrant valves, fire blankets and fire
protection systems such as automatic fire detection and alarm systems, automatic fire
sprinkler systems and emergency warning and inter-communication systems

1.4.2 Automatic fire detection system

A system of fire detectors installed in a building or other space which are connected to a
control panel competent of providing an automatic warning when a detector responds to
a fire.

1.4.3 Automatic sprinkler system

A sprinkler installation provided with a fusible link or other sensing device which
responds to a fire and sprays water on the contents. The system requires sprinkler heads,
water supply and appropriate control valves.

Page 49 of 68
1.4.4 Automatic release mechanism
A device which allows a door held open to close automatically on receiving a signal
from a fire alarm system, or a detection system or a manually operated switch.

1.4.5 Automatic self-closing device

A mechanical device to close a door after it has been opened and released.

1.4.6 Basement
Part of a building below surrounding ground level which is intended to be used for
accommodation, car parking or other intentions

1.4.7 Boundary
Demarcation between buildings adjacent to each other or between a building and the
centre of a road, street or stream

1.4.8 Cavity
Concealed space within building elements or between building elements, such as in a
hollow wall or between a ceiling and a roof

1.4.9 Ceiling
Underneath side of a floor, or a separate construction provided below a floor or a roof
with a gap above.

1.4.10 Circulation space

Common space used by occupants of a building to gain right of entry from a room to an
exit or a stairway or a lobby. It may be a corridor or a foyer or an entrance hall.

1.5 COMMON FIRE HAZARDS

Some common fire hazards are:
1. Kitchen fire from unattended cooking, such as frying, boiling and simmering.
2. Electrical systems overloaded, resulting in hot wiring or connections, or
failed components.
3. Combustible storage areas with insufficient protection.
4. Combustibles near equipment that generates heat, flame, or sparks.
5. Candles and other often flames

Page 50 of 68
 6. Smoking (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, lighters, etc.).
7. Equipment that generates heat and utilizes combustible materials.
8. Flammable liquids and aerosols.
9. Flammable solvent (and rags soaked with solvent) placed in enclosed trash cans.
10. Fireplace chimneys not properly or regularly cleaned.
11. Cooking appliances-stoves, ovens.
12. Heating appliances-fireplaces, wood burning stoves, furnaces, boilers, portable heaters.
13. Household appliances-clothes dryers, curling irons, hair dryers, refrigerators, freezers.
14. Chimneys that concentrate creosote.
15. Electrical wiring in poor condition.
16. Leaking Batteries.
17. Personal ignition sources-matches, lighters
18. Electronic and electrical equipment
19. Exterior cooking equipment-barbecue.

1.6 CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY

Over the next decades, it is projected that billions of people, particularly those in developing
countries, face shortages of water and food and greater danger to health and life as a result of
climate change. There is need for combined global action is needed to enable developing
countries to adapt to the effects of climate change that are taking place now and will worsen
in the future. Under a business as usual scenario, greenhouse gas emissions could rise by 25–
90 per cent by 2030 relative to 2000 and the Earth could warm by 3°C this century. Even
with a temperature rise of 1–2.5°C the IPCC predict serious effects including reduced crop
yields in tropical areas leading to increased risk of hunger, spread of climate sensitive
diseases such as malaria, and an increased risk of extinction of 20–30 per cent of all plant and
animal species. By 2020, up to 250 million people in Africa could be exposed to greater risk
of water stress. Over the course of this century, millions of people living in the catchment
areas of the Himalayas and Andes face increased risk of floods as glaciers retreat followed by
drought and water scarcity as the once extensive glaciers on these mountain ranges disappear.
Sea level rise will lead to inundation of coasts worldwide with some small island States
possibly facing complete inundation and people living with the constant threat of tropical
cyclones now face increased severity and possibly increased occurrence of these events with
all associated risk to life and livelihoods. Developing countries are the most vulnerable to
climate change effects because they have fewer resources to adapt: socially, technologically
and financially. Climate change is expected to have far reaching effects on the sustainable
development of developing countries including their ability to attain the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals. Many developing countries‘ governments have given
Page 51 of 68
 adaptation action a high, even urgent, precedence.

1.6.1 Climate change and adaptation

Rising fossil fuel burning and land use changes have released, and are continuing to release,
increasing quantities of greenhouse gases into the Earth‘s atmosphere. These greenhouse
gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrogen dioxide (N2O), and a rise
in these gases has caused a rise in the amount of heat from the sun withheld in the Earth‘s
atmosphere, heat that would normally be radiated back into space. This increase in heat has
resulted to the greenhouse effect, resulting in climate change. The main characteristics of
climate change are rise in average global temperature (global warming); changes in cloud
cover and precipitation particularly over land; melting of ice caps and glaciers and reduced
snow cover; and increases in ocean temperatures and ocean acidity – due to seawater
absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It is now obvious that global warming is mostly due to man-made productions of greenhouse
gases (mostly CO2). Over the last century, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide
increased from a pre-industrial value of 278 parts per million to 379 parts per million in 2005,
and the average global temperature rose by 0.74°C. According to scientists, this is the largest
and fastest warming trend that they have been able to discern in the history of the Earth. An
increasing rate of warming has particularly taken place over the last 25 years, and 11 of the
12 warmest years on record have occurred in the past 12 years. The IPCC Report gives
detailed projections for the 21st century and these show that global warming will continue
and accelerate. The best estimates indicate that the Earth could warm by 3°C by 2100. Even
if countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth will continue to warm.

Projections by 2100 range from a minimum of 1.8°C to as much as 4°C rise in global average
temperature Human beings have been adapting to the variable climate around them for
centuries. Global local climate variability can influence peoples‘ decisions with consequences
for their social, economic, political and personal conditions, and effects on their lives and
livelihoods. The impacts of climate change imply that the local climate variability that people
have previously experienced and have adapted to is changing and changing at relatively great
speed.

1.6.2 Assessing the impacts of and vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
Assessing the impacts of and vulnerability to climate change and subsequently working out
adaptation needs requires good quality information. This information includes climate data,

Page 52 of 68
 such as temperature, rainfall and the frequency of extreme events, and non-climatic data,
such as the current situation on the ground for different sectors including water
resources, agriculture and food security, human health, terrestrial ecosystems and
biodiversity, and coastal zones

1.6.3 Information gathering – data, systematic observation and monitoring

For countries to understand their local climate better and thus be able to predict local climate
change, they must have sufficient operational national systematic observing networks, and
access to the data available from other universal and regional networks. Systematic
observations of the climate system are usually done by meteorological centres and other
specialised centres. They take observations at standard predetermined times and places, and
monitor atmosphere, ocean and terrestrial systems. The main climate variables measured
include temperature, rainfall, sea surface temperature, sea level rise, wind speeds, tropical
cyclones (including hurricanes and typhoons), snow and ice cover

There is need for the international body and community to support and further develop
climate research and systematic observation systems, taking into account the concerns and
needs of developing countries.
There is need for trainings and meeting that will underscore need to take stock of
available climate information in developing countries so that it can be clear where the
systematic observation needs are most pressing. Follow-up actions should include
improving and sustaining operational observing networks.

Collaboration between national and international providers of climate information and

the users, in all sectors, of such information for adaptation to climate change is vital as
well as generating awareness among different user communities of the usefulness of
climate information and services and enhancing national and regional coordination.
Data needs to be carefully packaged so that it can be used effectively. Rescuing
historical meteorological data is important. Education and training and improved
national planning and reporting would also help build capacity.

1.6.4 Information analysis – reporting of impacts, vulnerability and adaptation

Reliable, systematic climate data helps countries determine their current climate
variability, and model future changes. Countries use a number of assessment
models, tools and methodologies as well as various scenarios to help provide an
assessment of the future impacts of climate change. Climate change impacts,

Page 53 of 68
vulnerability and adaptation assessments need to generate outputs that are policy
relevant. To do this, climate change data as well as future impacts and vulnerabilities
needs to be incorporated with socioeconomic data and analyses across a range of
sectors, and the outcome must be adapted for policymakers and stakeholders.

1.6.5 Regional impacts of and vulnerabilities to climate change

It should however be noted that Africa is a continent already under pressure from climate
change/stresses and is highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Many areas in
Africa are recognized as having climates that are among the most variable in the world
on seasonal and decadal time scales. Floods and droughts can occur in the same area
within months of each other. These events can lead to famine and widespread disruption
of socio- economic well-being. For example, estimates reported that one third of African
people already live in drought- prone areas and 220 million are exposed to drought each
year.
Many factors contribute and compound the impacts of current climate variability in
Africa and will have harmful effects on the continent‘s ability to cope with climate
change. These include poverty, illiteracy and lack of skills, weak institutions, limited
infrastructure, lack of technology and information, low levels of primary education and
health care, poor access to resources, low management capabilities and armed conflicts.
The over-exploitation of land resources, including forests, rise in population,
desertification and land degradation pose additional pressure. In the Sahara and Sahel,
dust and sand storms have negative effects on agriculture, infrastructure and health.
Africa is vulnerable to a number of climate sensitive diseases including malaria,
tuberculosis and diarrhoea. Under climate change, rising temperatures are changing the
geographical distribution of disease vectors which are migrating to new areas and higher
altitudes, for example, migration of the malaria mosquito to higher altitudes will expose
large numbers of previously unexposed people to infection in the densely populated east
African highlands.
Future climate variability will also intermingle with other stresses and vulnerabilities
such as HIV/AIDS (which is already reducing life expectancy in many African
countries) and conflict and war, resulting in increased susceptibility and risk to
infectious diseases (e.g. cholera and diarrhoea) and malnutrition for adults and children.

1.7 ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Adaptation to climate change in developing countries is vital and has been painted by
them as having a high or urgent priority. Although uncertainty remains about the extent
of climate change impacts, in many developing countries there is sufficient information
Page 54 of 68
and knowledge available on strategies and plans to implement adaptation activities now.
However, developing countries have limitations in capacity making adaptation difficult.
Limitations include both human capacity and financial resources. Strategies and
programmes that are more likely to succeed need to link with coordinated efforts aimed
at poverty alleviation, improving food security and water availability, combating land
degradation and reducing loss of biological diversity and ecosystem services, as well as
improving adaptive capacity. Sustainable development and the Millennium Development
Goals are necessary backdrop to integrating adaptation into development policy.
Reduction policies are also important elements of adaptation.

1.7.1 Adaptation strategies, plans and programmes

Adapting to climate change will entail adjustments and changes at every level – from
community to national and international. Communities must build their resilience,
including adopting suitable technologies while making the most of traditional
knowledge, and diversifying their livelihoods to cope with present and future climate
stress. Local coping strategies and traditional knowledge need to be used in synergy with
government and local interventions. The choice of adaptation interventions depends
on national situations. To enable workable and effective adaptation measures,
ministries and governments, as well as institutions and non-government organizations,
must consider incorporating climate change in their planning and budgeting in all levels
of decision making.

1.7.2 Adaptation measures in key vulnerable sectors

Vulnerable Reactive adaptation Anticipatory adaptation
sectors

Water – Protection of groundwater resources Better use of recycled water

Resources – Improved management and maintenance – Conservation of water catchment areas
of existing water supply systems – Improved system of water management
– Protection of water catchment areas – Water policy reform including pricing and
– Improved water supply irrigation policies
– Groundwater and rainwater harvesting – Development of flood controls and drought
and desalination monitoring

Page 55 of 68
Agriculture – Erosion control – Development of tolerant/resistant crops (to
and food – Dam construction for irrigation drought, salt, insect/pests)
security – Research and development
– Changes in fertilizer use and
application – Soil-water management
– Introduction of new crops – Diversification and intensification of food
– Soil fertility maintenance and plantation crops

– Changes in planting and harvesting times – Policy measures, tax incentives /

subsidies, free market
– Switch to different cultivars
– Development of early warning systems
– Educational and outreach

programmes on conservation and

management of soil and water

Human – Public health management reform -Development of early warning system

health – Improved housing and living – Better and/or improved disease/vector
conditions surveillance and monitoring
– Improved emergency response – Improvement of environmental quality
– Changes in urban and housing design

Terrestrial -Improvement of management systems - Creation of parks/reserves, protected areas and

ecosystems including control of deforestation, reforestation biodiversity corridors
and afforestation – Identification/development of species
– Promoting agroforestry to improve forest resistant to climate change
goods and services – Better assessment of the vulnerability of
– Development/improvement of ecosystems
national forest fire management plans – Monitoring of species
– Improvement of carbon storage in forests – Development and maintenance of seed banks
– Including socioeconomic factors in
management policy

Page 56 of 68
Coastal -Protection of economic infrastructure – Integrated coastal zone management
zones and – Public awareness to enhance – Better coastal planning and zoning
marine protection of coastal and marine – Development of legislation for coastal
ecosystems ecosystems protection
– Building sea walls and beach – Research and monitoring of coasts and
reinforcement coastal ecosystems
– Protection and conservation of coral
reefs, mangroves, sea grass and littoral
Vegetation

1.7.3 Impacts of Climate Change on the Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Potential impacts of climate change
Development
Goal

Goal 1: Eradicate – Damage to livelihood assets, including homes, water supply, health, and infrastructure,
extreme poverty and can undermine peoples‘ ability to earn a living;
Hunger – Reduction of crop yields affects food security;
– Changes in natural systems and resources, infrastructure and labour productivity
may reduce income opportunities and affect economic growth;
– Social tensions over resource use can lead to conflict, destabilising lives and
livelihoods and forcing communities to migrate

Goal 2: Achieve – Loss of livelihood assets and natural disasters reduce opportunities for full

universal time education, more children (especially girls) are likely to be taken out of school to help
primary fetch water, earn an income or care for ill family members;
Education – Malnourishment and illness reduces school attendance and the ability of children to learn
when they are in class;
– Displacement and migration can reduce access to education

Page 57 of 68
Goal 3: Promote – Exacerbation of gender inequality as women depend more on the natural environment for
gender equality and their livelihoods, including agricultural production. This may lead to increasingly poor health
empower women and less time to engage in decision making and earning additional income;
– Women and girls are typically the ones to care for the home and fetch water, fodder, firewood,
and often food. During times of climate stress, they must cope with fewer resources and a greater
workload;
– Female headed households with few assets are particularly affected by climate
related disasters.

Goal 4: Reduce – Deaths and illness due to heat-waves, floods, droughts and hurricanes;
child mortality – Children and pregnant women are particularly susceptible to vector-borne diseases (e.g.
malaria and dengue fever) and water-borne diseases (e.g. cholera and dysentery) which may
Goal 5: Improve increase and/or spread to new areas – e.g. anaemia resulting from malaria is currently responsible
Maternal Health for one quarter of maternal mortality;
– Reduction in the quality and quantity of drinking water exacerbates malnutrition especially
among children;
– Natural disasters affect food security leading to increased malnutrition and
famine, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Goal 6: Combat – Water stress and warmer conditions encourage disease;

HIV/AIDS, – Households affected by AIDS have lower livelihood assets, and malnutrition accelerates the
malaria and
negative effects of the disease
other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure – Alterations and possible irreversible damage in the quality and productivity of ecosystems and
environmental natural resources;
sustainability – Decrease in biodiversity and worsening of existing environmental degradation;
– Alterations in ecosystem-human interfaces and interactions lead to loss of

Page 58 of 68
 biodiversity and loss of basic support systems for the livelihood of many people,
particularly in Africa.
Goal 8: Develop – Climate change is a global issue and a global challenge: responses require
global global cooperation, especially to help developing countries adapt to the adverse
partnership for effects of climate change; – International relations may be strained by climate
Development impacts.

UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES, DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Main contents
Emergency response
Benefits of Training
Disaster
Types of disaster
Natural Disasters
Man-Made Disasters
Complex Emergencies
Pandemic Emergencies
Management of disaster
Disaster Prevention
Disaster Preparedness
Disaster Response/Relief
Disaster Recovery

MAIN CONTENT
1.1 EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Considering that the nature of an emergency is unpredictable and can change in scope and
impact, it is vital to take action and be prepared before an unforeseen situation occurs.
Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response training will offer the important skills
needed to develop a response plan and coordinate the required resources for properly
responding to environmental emergencies. Moreover, it will improve knowledge and
confidence to preserve organization and employees during life-threatening emergencies.

1.1.1 Benefits of Training for environmental emergency preparedness and response

Page 59 of 68
 This shall assist to:
1. Develop and maintain emergency management plans and programs
2. React effectively to a wide range of emergencies
3. Develop contingency plans that describe the roles, decision-making and
communication processes
4. Develop high standards of health and safety at work
5. Develop protective measures for people and property in case of emergency situations
6. Establish an emergency communications plan
7. Eliminate, reduce or mitigate environmental impact in the event of a release of
hazardous material

1.2 DISASTER
Disaster, as defined by the United Nations, is a serious disruption of the functioning of a
community or society, which involves extensive human, material, economic or
environmental impacts that surpass the ability of the affected community or society to
cope using its own resources. Disaster management is how we deal with the human,
material, economic or environmental impacts of said disaster, it is the process of how we
prepare for, respond to and learn from the impacts of major failures‖. According to the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies a disaster occurs when
a hazard impacts on vulnerable people. The combination of hazards, vulnerability and
inability to reduce the potential harmful consequences of risk results in disaster.
Natural disasters and armed conflict have marked human existence throughout history
and have always caused peaks in mortality and morbidity.

DISASTER = (VULNERABILITY+ HAZARD) / CAPACITY

1.2 TYPES OF DISASTER

1.2.1 Natural Disasters
According to the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies Natural
Disasters are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or slow onset
events that have primary impacts on human health and secondary impacts causing further
death and suffering. Examples:
Geophysical (e.g. Earthquakes, Landslides, Tsunamis and Volcanic Activity)
Hydrological (e.g. Avalanches and Floods)
Climatological (e.g. Extreme Temperatures, Drought and Wildfires)
Meteorological (e.g. Cyclones and Storms/Wave Surges)

Page 60 of 68
Biological (e.g. Disease Epidemics and Insect/Animal Plagues)

1.2.2 Man-Made Disasters

Man-Made Disasters as viewed by the International Federation of Red Cross & Red
Crescent Societies are events that are caused by humans which occur in or close to
human settlements often precipitated as a result of Environmental or Technological
Emergencies.

Examples: Environmental Degradation, Pollution, Accidents such as Industrial,

Technological and Transport usually involving the production, use and or transport of
hazardous materials

1.2.3 Complex Emergencies

Some disasters can result from multiple hazards, or, more often, to a complex
combination of both Natural and Man-made causes which involve a break-down of
authority, looting and attacks on strategic installations, including conflict situations and
war.
They are typically characterized by the following:
1. Extensive Violence
2. Displacements of Populations
3. Loss of Life
4. Widespread Damage to both Societies and Economies
5. Need for Large-scale, Humanitarian Assistance across Multiple Agencies
6. Political and Military Constraints which impact or prevent Humanitarian Assistance
7. Increased Security Risks for Humanitarian Relief Workers
Examples: Food Insecurity, Epidemics, Armed Conflicts, Displaced Populations

1.2.4 Pandemic Emergencies

Pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread across a wide region,
which can occur to the human population or animal population and may affect health,
disrupts services leading to economic and social costs. It may be an strange or
unpredicted increase in the number of cases of an infectious disease which already exists
in a certain region or population or can also refer to the appearance of a significant
number of cases of an infectious disease in a region or population that is usually free
from that disease. Pandemic Emergencies may occur as a consequence of Natural or
Man-Made Disasters.
Examples: Ebola, Zika, Avian Flu, Cholera, Dengue Fever, Malaria, Yellow Fever

Page 61 of 68
 1.3 Management of disaster
1.3.1 Disaster Prevention
Disaster prevention is the outright evading of adverse impacts of hazards and related
disasters. It is the concept of engaging in activities which intend to prevent or avoid
potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance, activities designed to
provide protection from the occurrence of disasters. While not all disasters can be
prevented, good risk management, evacuation plans, environmental planning and design
standards can decrease risk of loss of life and injury alleviation.
The HYOGO Framework was one such Global Plan for natural Disaster Risk Reduction,
which was adopted in 2005 as a 10 year Global Plan, signed by agreement with 168
Governments which provided guiding principles, priorities for action, and practical
means for achieving disaster resilience for vulnerable communities.

1.3.2 Disaster Preparedness

"The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and
recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and
recover from, the impacts of likely, current hazard events".
According to ICRC, Disaster Preparedness refers to measures taken to get ready for and
reduce the effects of disasters, be they Natural or Man-made. This is achieved through
research and planning in order to try to predict areas or regions that may be at risk of disaster
and where possible prevent these from occurring and/or reduce the impact those disasters on
the vulnerable populations that may be affected so they can effectively cope. Disaster
preparedness activities entrenched with risk reduction measures can prevent disaster
situations and also result in saving highest lives and livelihoods during any disaster situation,
enabling the affected population to get back to normalcy within a short time period.
Minimisation of loss of life and damage to property through facilitation of effective disaster
response and rehabilitation services when required. Preparedness is the main way of reducing
the impact of disasters. Community-based preparedness and management should be a high
priority in physical therapy practice management.

1.3.3 Disaster Response/Relief

Disaster response is the provision of emergency services and public assistance during or
immediately after a disaster in order to save lives reduce health impacts, ensure public safety
and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people that are affected.
It focused principally on immediate and short-term needs the division between this
response/relief stage and the subsequent recovery stage is not clear-cut. Some response
Page 62 of 68
actions, such as the supply of temporary housing and water supplies, may extend well into the
recovery stage.

Page 63 of 68
Rescue from immediate danger and stabilization of the physical and emotional condition of
survivors is the primary aims of disaster response/relief, which goes hand in hand with the
recovery of the dead and the restoration of essential services such as water and power.
Coordinated multi-agency response is vital to this stage of Disaster Management in order to
reduce the impact of a disaster and its long-term results with relief activities including:
Rescue, Relocation, Provision Food and Water, Provision Emergency Health Care,
Prevention of Disease and Disability, Repairing Vital Services e.g. Telecommunications,
Transport, Provision Temporary Shelter

1.3.4 Disaster Recovery

Vulnerability of communities often goes on for long after the initial crisis is over. Disaster
Recovery refers to those programmes which surpass the provision of immediate relief to
assist those who victim of the full impact of a disaster and include the following activities:
1. Rebuilding Infrastructure e.g. Homes, Schools, Hospitals, Roads
2. Health Care and Rehabilitation
3. Development Activities e.g. building human resources for health
4. Development Policies and Practices to avoid or mitigate similar situations in future

UNIT 5: BIODIVERSITY AND ENVIRONMENT

Main contents
Classification of biodiversity
Genetic diversity
Species diversity
Ecosystem diversity
Biodiversity: meaning and measurement
Taxonomy diversity
Community diversity
Biodiversity: changes in time and space
Changes over Time
Changes in space
Loss of biodiversity and causes
In-Situ Conservation
Ex-Situ Conservation

Page 64 of 68
 1.0 MAIN CONTENT
Biodiversity is an attribute of an area and specifically refers to the variety within and among
living organisms, assemblages of living organisms, biotic communities, and biotic processes,
whether naturally taking place or modified by humans. Biodiversity can be measured in terms
of genetic diversity and the identity and number of different types of species, assemblages of
species, biotic communities, and biotic processes, and the amount (e.g., abundance, biomass,
cover and rate) and structure of each. It can be observed and measured at any spatial scale
ranging from microsites and habitat patches to the entire biosphere.

1.1 CLASSIFICATION BIODIVERSITY

The classification of biodiversity can be classified into those authors who consider
biodiversity to be a state and those who believe that it is a measure of the state. Most authors
have defined biodiversity as a state or attribute, for example, ‗‗biodiversity is the variety
of...‘‘ or ‗‗variety and variability of...‘‘
Standard dictionaries have classified diversity as a state, condition, or quality. Other
definitions of biodiversity restricted the scope of the attribute to explicit, quantifiable
dimensions or measures, for example, ‗‗biodiversity is the number of..‘‘ or ‗‗the number
and relative abundance of..‘‘ This emphasis on quantitative, operational definitions of
biodiversity and criticisms of non-quantitative definitions

1.1.1 Genetic diversity

Genetic diversity is dependent on the heritable variation within and between populace of
organisms. New genetic variation arises in entities by gene and chromosome mutations, and
in organisms with sexual reproduction it can be spread through the population by
recombination. It has been estimated that in humans and fruit flies alike, the number of
possible combinations of different forms of each gene sequence surpass the number of atoms
in the world.
Each of the approximated 10^9 different genes distributed across the world‘s biota does not
make an identical contribution to overall genetic diversity. In particular, those genes that
control fundamental biochemical processes are robustly conserved across different taxa and
generally show little variation, although such variation that does exist may wield a powerful
effect on the viability of the organism; the converse is true of other genes. A large amount of

molecular variation in the mammalian immune system, for example, is possible on the basis
of a small number of inherited genes.

1.1.2 Species diversity

Page 65 of 68
Historically, species are the fundamental descriptive units of the living world and this is why
biodiversity is very frequently, and incorrectly, used as a synonym of species diversity, in
particular of ‗‗species richness,‘‘ which is the number of species in a site or habitat.
Discussion of worldwide biodiversity is typically presented in terms of global numbers of
species in different taxonomic groups. An approximate 1.7 million species have been
described to date; estimates for the total number of species existing on earth at present vary
from 5 million to nearly 100 million. A conservative working estimate suggests there might
be around 12.5 million.

1.1.3 Ecosystem diversity

While it is possible to define what is in principle meant by genetic and species diversity, it is
difficult to make a quantitative assessment of diversity at the ecosystem, habitat, or
community level. There is no unique definition or classification of ecosystems at the global
level, and it is difficult in practice to measure ecosystem diversity other than on a local or
regional basis, and then only largely in terms of vegetation. Ecosystems are further divorced
from genes and species in that they explicitly include abiotic parts, being partly determined
by soil/parent material and climate.

1.2 BIODIVERSITY: MEANING AND MEASUREMENT

1.2.1 Taxonomy diversity
Biodiversity measurements that quantify genetic difference directly, or indirectly through use
of the taxonomic hierarchy (Williams et al., 1991), are currently being used. The indirect
taxonomic approach is more practical because we already have a ‗‗rule of thumb‘‘
taxonomic hierarchy, whereas reliable approximate of overall genetic differences between
taxa are nearly non-existent

1.2.2 Community diversity

Early ecologists did not resrict themselves to measuring species diversity. They also tried to
understand the relationship of diversity with other features of the community. The

dependence of species diversity on the structural complexity of the environment was

demonstrated, as was the role of predation and periodical disturbance in determining a given
level of diversity. The relationship between the species diversity and standing crop of a
community was also shown.

1.3 BIODIVERSITY: CHANGES IN TIME AND SPACE

1.3.1 Changes over Time

Page 66 of 68
Two pertinent points appear to be well substantiated. First, taxonomic diversity, as measured
by the number of identified phyla of organisms, was greater in Cambrian times than in any
later period. Second, it appears that species diversity and the number of families has
undergone a net increase between the Cambrian and Pleistocene epochs, although interrupted
by isolated phases of mass extinction.

1.3.2 Changes in space

Species diversity in natural habitats is high in warm areas and decreases with increasing
latitude and altitude; additionally, terrestrial diversity is usually higher in areas of high
rainfall and lower in drier areas. The richest areas are tropical moist forest and, if current
estimates of the number of microfaunal species of tropical moist forests are convincing, then
these areas, which cover perhaps 7% of the world‘s surface area, may well contain over 90%
of all species. If the diversity of larger organisms only is considered, then coral reefs such as
Bunaken and, for plants at least, areas with a Mediterranean climate in South Africa and
Western Australia may be as diverse. Gross genetic diversity and ecosystem diversity will
tend to be positively correlated with species diversity.

1.4 LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY AND CAUSES

Species extinction is a natural process that occurs without the intervention of humans since,
over geological time, all species have a limited period of existence. Extinctions caused
directly or indirectly by humans are occurring at a rate that far exceeds any reasonable
approximate of background extinction rates, and to the extent that these extinctions are
correlated with habitat perturbation, they must be increasing.

Page 67 of 68
1.4.1 In-Situ Conservation
The maintenance of biological diversity is the sustainable management of viable
populations of species or populations in situ or ex situ. The maintenance of a noteworthy
proportion of the world‘s biological diversity only appears feasible by maintaining
organisms in their wild state and within their existing range. This allows for continuing
adaptation of wild populations by natural evolutionary processes and, in principle, for
current utilization practices to continue. For such maintenance to succeed, it almost
invariably requires enhanced management through the integrated, community-based
conservation of protected areas.

1.4.2 Ex-Situ Conservation

Viable populations of many organisms can be maintained in cultivation or in captivity.
Plants may also be preserved in seed banks and germplasm collections; similar
techniques are under development for animals (storage of embryos, eggs, and sperm, i.e.,
frozen zoos‘‘) but are more problematic. Ex situ conservation is extremely costly in the
case of most animals, and while it would in principle be possible to conserve a very large
proportion of higher plants ex situ, this would be feasible for only a small percentage of
the world‘s organisms. Furthermore, it often involves a loss of genetic diversity through
founder effects and the high probability of inbreeding.

Page 68 of 68