Estimation of Watershed Sustainability Index of University of Uyo Watershed Using UNESCO-IHP Help Tool

Abstract

The study employed the UNESCO-IHP (International Hydrology Programme) HELP (Hydrology Environment Life and Policy) tool for watershed sustainability index (WSI) to evaluate the sustainability of the study area, University of Uyo main Campus watershed, comprising of three communities namely: Use Offot, Nsukara Offot and Ekpri Nsukara. The populace living here is perpetually confronted with the challenge of having adequate water to meet their needs despite abundant rainfall. This is due to lack of appropriate extraction mechanism and government will to means of making water available and accessible to the poeple. This study was to determine how sustainable the zone is regarding availability of water resource using WSI, which information is lacking. Field investigations and questionnaire tools were adopted to extract quantitative data for evaluating the adopted WSI template between years 2013 - 2018. Result obtained for Use Offot, shows the pressure state scored 0.75 each with hydrology quality scoring zero and Environment scoring 0.50. These, when averaged gave the HELP indicator score of 0.55. The State and Response parameters maximum and minimum values recorded were 0.75 (for Policy and Environment) and 1.0 for Hydrology quantity showing that these indicators are high within this region. The Community recorded a total average score of 0.59 of all the evaluated parameters, showing that the watershed was fairly sustainable. Nsukara Offot, recorded 0.60 on the final score, an indication that the watershed was sustainable since the value was above 0.50. However, Ekpri Nsukara recorded the highest sustainability value of 0.62 on the average after analysing all the indicators measured. This is because of the high values of the Hydrology (quantity and quality), Environment, and Life and Policy indicators when estimated. Summarily, the WSI of the studied area was of the order averagely: Use Offot = 0.59, Nsukara Offot = 0.60 and Ekpri Nsukara = 0.62 with an average total parameter score of 0.60 affirming that the watershed is sustainable.