World Water Day: Nigerians Yearn For Pipe Borne Water

As the world marked the
2014 World Water Day last Saturday, many Nigerians have renewed the call for the erection of more pumps to ensure steady supply of pipe-borne water to the citizenry.
A cross section of people in some parts of the country expressed their views on the issue.
While some noted the efforts of some state governments in the provision of water, others called for the phasing out of indiscriminate drilling of boreholes and unwholesome well water.
A resident of the FCT, Mr  Sampson Ebine, said many satellite towns depended solely on private boreholes and mai-ruwa (water vendors) for their domestic water needs.
“The FCT above all other cities in the country is not supposed to lack water, because it is supposed to be a model city, one of the greatest in Africa.
“But you notice that only core centres like Wuse, Garki, Maitama, Asokoro, have flowing water and these are areas where the working population in Abuja cannot afford.
“Most of the other areas  have to fend for themselves either in drilling their own boreholes or depending on mai-ruwa; this is not a good image for Nigeria at all,” he said.
Similarly, some Lagos residents told The Tide that the situation was no different in most parts of Lagos.
“Almost 70 per cent of Lagos residents are accessing water supply through vendors, we cannot guarantee the water quality and treatment.
“People overtime have resorted to digging their wells and even these wells are not treated at all; they drink unwholesome water and fall sick often because they have no alternative.
“In the 70s and 80s, we had pipe-borne water; why can’t we invest and bring that back for the good of the people?”,
A   businessman  Alhaji Jide Bolaji, residing in Lagos, said.
In Anambra, Mrs Ezinne Ofor, a resident of Awka, said the water situation in the state was deplorable.
“We have fine tall buildings, no water; water supply is mostly controlled by water vendors.
“So we provide light for ourselves and get our own water, what then will the government do for us?”
In Enugu, residents called on the state government and the water board to speed up work on pipe laying to provide water to residents instead of water tanks, which supplied water to major parts of the state capital.
Students in institutions of higher learning also lent their voices to the call for the resuscitation of pipe-borne water.
Miss Lilian Victor, a student of the Kwara State University, He stated that the resuscitation of pipe-borne water is a long term goal because it is capital intensive.
He listed population explosion, ineffective town planning and dilapidating water structures as some of the challenges militating against the restoration of pipe-borne water in the country.
Also some water board managers from the states told NAN that these concerns were being looked into.
The General Managers of Enugu, Sokoto, Kano and Osun state water boards said their governments were investing in water schemes that would ensure increased water coverage in their states.