Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has called for private, public partnership in the provision of portable water for the people.

Gov Amaechi made the call in Port Harcourt on Monday during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting and discussion on the draft Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) policy of Rivers State, organised by the state Ministry of water Resources and Rural Development.

The state governor who was represented by the state Commissioner for Youth Affairs, Mr Felix Nweke said that the present administration believed in the policy of participatory democracy, and called on stakeholders to make inputs to boost the water sector.Mr Nweke said a situation whereby citizenry purchase water for domestic use was not acceptable, adding that the water they purchase is unsafe for human consumption.

He said the issue of providing good drinking water to the people goes beyond the sinking of boreholes and promised that as soon as a sustainable water policy comes on stream, the era of water hawkers in the Port Harcourt metropolis would be a thing of the past.

Also speaking, the vice chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Prof B.B. Fakae explained that a working water policy should be evolved saying that the RSUST has a department of pollution studies, environmental biology as well as environmental sciences, working closely with the relevant agencies on water related matters. Earlier in a keynote address, the state Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Mr Patricia Simon-Hart who listed the need for good drinking water to the people explained that the provision of effective, efficient and sustainable water services to householders, institutions businesses and industries was fraught with a lot of challenges. She said that although governments over the years had made concerted efforts to rehabilitate the ailing sector, delivering water has not yielded the desired result as it was characterised by serious under performance, increasing water resources constraints, and population pressures, among others.

On the way forward, Ms Simon-Hart explained that the development of the “WASH” policy, an acronym for water, sanitation and hygiene which she said was universal on the water sector signifies that that water was not a stand alone wholesome element without the complementary roles of other components that include sanitation and hygiene she expressed the optimism that the views of stakeholders at the one day event would make for harmony and enrich the finalised documents on the “WASH” policy for Rivers State and justice.