A borehole specialist, Dr Sabastine Ngah, has advocated the adoption of safest drilling methods for boreholes in coastal areas to prevent fresh water pollution.

Ngah a lecturer at the Institute for Geo-sciences and Space Technology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Abuja recently.

He said that the advice became necessary given the crude oil drilling activities taking place in the coastal areas of the country, a development, which he said, made access to clean drinking water a challenge.

According to Ngah, the difficulty in getting wholesome water is a result of salt water intrusion into the fresh water aquifers in the course of drilling.

An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated material, gravel or sand from which groundwater could be extracted

“In the coastal areas, that’s where most activities especially the oil collecting activities take place, especially in Lagos; and a lot of people are living there; they have problem getting water to drink because salt water tends to encroach into the fresh water aquifers.”

He advised government to facilitate research studies that would provide solutions to the challenges.

“The way forward is for experts in the field to carry out studies; government should show interest and then commission the studies because it has been about studies.

“You must study to get to know what is where and then these studies will begin to bring in results.”

On the depletion of underground water, the lecturer said underground water mainly depleted in quality and not quantity, adding that it was a resource that could be recycled.