‘Urban Water Supply, Capital Intensive’

Getting potable wa
ter supply to people living in urban centres is capital intensive and complex, says a water expert, Mr Peter Chukwuma.
Chukwuma, a technical specialist to the Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA) project in Ebonyi State, said last Monday that the availability of surface and underground water was also critical to any effort to get water across to the people.
The expert, who spoke against the backdrop of the acute shortage of water in Abakiliki and other towns in the state, said that a lot of financial resources were required for regular water supply.
He also explained that the present precarious state of public water supply infrastructure was due to funding constraints.
“Our various water schemes at present require enormous investment to make them operational.  Many people now pay water vendors in order to get water. “The tariff that users did not pay is what many are suffering from presently, as urban water supply involves the use of complex engineering structures, mechanical and electrical systems, chemicals and pipe works,” he said.
The water expert noted that a water system would only be sustainable, if it promotes efficiencies in both the supply and demand needs.
“This is fundamental to enhancing operation and maintenance capabilities of water utilities, reduce non-revenue water leakages and energy use. “It is also to improve the capacity of the workforce to understand and operate the system and ensure cost recovery through a fair tariff system and intelligent investment planning,” he said.
He noted that water supply sustainability involved taking proper actions at present with adequate consideration for the future.
“Sustainable water systems should provide adequate water quantity and appropriate water quality without compromising the future ability to provide this capacity and quality. “In running public infrastructures, sustainability is a key word as we must bequeath to the future generations, systems that are functional, he added.
“It would be unfair that we enjoy now and leave the future generations to pay for us and themselves as this was the implication of enjoying anything free,” he said.