(Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ife, 1981) Ogedengbe, O.
It is becoming increasingly common for educated Nigerians to build houses in rural and semi-urban areas of the country. The plan of a typical modern house includes construction of a septic tank and soakaway for disposal of wastewaters. Very often, a well is dug on the same plot of land for supply of water in lieu of tap water supply. If the homeowner knew that the soak-away system could contaminate his well-water, he might be able to arrange the structures so as to put a safe distance between his well and his soak-away unit. The study reported in this paper shows that in a silty sand soil, the safe separation distance is about 14 meters.