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•‘We buy untreated water for consumption’ •There is water supply but… —Water agency chief
By Subair Mohammed
FOR decades, many residents of Lagos State have contended with an acute shortage of public water supply from the state’s water corporation.
From Lagos Central to Lagos West and Lagos East, a large chunk of the 22 million people living in the Centre of Excellence suffer from the lack of potable water supply which the Head of Distribution at the Lagos State Water Corporation, Adenike Ogunsua, said is being done in trickles to selected areas.
The water shortage in the aquatic state, which is fast degenerating into a crisis situation, is indeed a cause for concern for many homes and small businesses.
Even for residents in whose communities the water stations are sited, it is also a case of being surrounded by water but none to drink.
Annually, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 3.4 million people die as a result of water-related diseases. This, the report stated, makes water-related diseases the leading cause of disease and death around the world. In Nigeria, over 26.5 million children are said to be extremely vulnerable to water-related diseases and antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria.
In Lagos, over 50 per cent of patients visiting the various health centres in the state on a daily basis are treated for one water-related ailment or the other, as revealed by the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Ahmed Abdullahi, in 2017.
However, the water situation may not be a hopeless one for Lagos residents as Ogunsua, in a brief telephone conversation with Saturday Tribune assured the residents of the corporation’s readiness to ensure steady supply of pipe-borne water to communities across the state.
Ogunsua, who declined comment on the efforts being made by the corporation to end the water shortage in the state unless a clearance was sought from the managing director, disclosed that in some parts of the state, the corporation had been able to supply water to residents in trickles.
She said: “I cannot speak to you without an approval from the MD. This would amount to divulging official matters to the press and to avoid that is the main reason I should get the approval of my MD. You are to communicate to the MD of the corporation after which it will be communicated to me.
“In the last three weeks to a month, the issue you raised is what we have been discussing in the office. It is not only my department if that is what you need. I am the distributor. If we don’t produce, there will be nothing to distribute and after distribution, water is not free. So, if you want complete information, you will contact the tripartite department.
“Before I distribute, somebody must have produced. In the last few years, there has not been water supply but now there is water in trickles. What is the magic behind this? You need to know. So, you will need to fix an appointment with the MD and thereafter, I will be able to furnish you with the information you require.”
Meanwhile, as countries across the world celebrated the 2023 World Water Day on Wednesday, March 22, to raise the awareness of the two billion people living without access to safe water, an expert has warned of the dangers drinking unsafe and unclean water pose to human health.
According to an environmentalist, Dr Adenike Akinsemolu, the presence of harmful bacteria and viruses in such water can lead to various waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and hepatitis A.
“With 1.6 million deaths recorded in 2017 alone, this is more than all deaths from intentional injuries combined in the same year, including suicide, homicide, conflict, and terrorism. In Nigeria, about 117,000 children die annually due to poor water quality and sanitation,” she revealed.
‘Our water woes’
Topmost on the list of needs of residents and business owners in Lagos is availability and unhindered access to clean and safe pipe-borne water, a Saturday Tribune’s survey showed.
To solve the water shortage that is fast drifting into a crisis situation, the Lagos State government, through the state’s water corporation, embarked on rehabilitation works on Iju and Adiyan waterworks for an improved water supply.
The water corporation’s Assistant Director, Public Affairs/Public Relations Officer, Anifowose Razaq, in February, assured Lagos residents that communities that had not experienced water supply in a long time would soon be reached.
He said: “Some areas are likely to begin to experience huge leakages as a result of increase in pressure from water supply while areas that have not received water supply in a long time will receive.
“Following this development, the corporation has launched dedicated numbers to report areas or communities in the state that are experiencing availability of water, burst pipes, leakages and any act of vandalism.”
Located in Ojo Local Government Area, Ishasi Waterworks is the third major waterworks after Adiyan and Iju waterworks. It is one of the facilities supplying water to residents of Lagos.
Towards the end of 2022, the facility was looted and pipes meant for the distribution of water to the residents of the community and its environs were carted away.
Speaking on the effect of the looting on water supply in Ojo Local Government Area, the CDC chairman in Ojo Local Government Area, Mr Niyi Makinde, said the criminal act had not hindered water supply in any way.
He said: “The Ishasi waterworks is located at Iba LCDA and I can tell you that it is functioning very well. Even I have a younger brother who is an engineer there. Whenever we are discussing, he always tells me that periodic maintenance is being carried out.
“Before now, many residents are addicted to boreholes and so many people are not connected to the public water. Since they are there, they don’t really care about the pipe-borne water. I live in the riverine area but I am very familiar with what goes on at the upland. There is no shortage of public water in Ojo Local Government except those that choose not to patronise it.”
Some residents who spoke to Saturday Tribune said water infrastructure has collapsed completely in Lagos State just as they concluded that access to pipe-borne water is a mirage.
The state government, according to them, invests more in social infrastructure and neglects investment in public water supply, thereby forcing residents to seek solace in deep well water and borehole.
A resident in Agodo community in Egbe-Idimu LCDA, Rasheed Oluwo, said in his over 10 years of living in the community, there had never been water supply to his residence despite the location of water station in the community.
He said: “It is time for the Lagos State government to begin to concentrate on making potable and safe water available to the citizens. Water is essential but as important as this infrastructure is, it is lacking in most homes across the state.
“When I moved into this community in 2015, the public taps were running but about six months into my tenancy, the taps stopped running. Why? Nobody knows. And between then and now, all the pipes that connect residences have bcome rust. So, we are left with boreholes and deep well water which is untreated and unsafe for consumption.
“My appeal to the Lagos State government is to prioritise the water sector and revitalise the sector because potable water is essential to healthy living.”
Another resident on Taoreed Street in Surulere, Ibukun Anuoluwa, disclosed that the entire district had been disconnected from public water supply. According to him, the water pipes lowered beneath the earth by the Lagos Water Corporation that supply water from the Babs Animashaun Junction have gone rust.
He said: “Our taps have gone dry for so many years. In fact, all the connecting pipes are rust. The rust pipes were dug out of the belly of the earth during the road construction works embarked upon by the officials of the Lagos State government recently and they were packed by the scrap metal merchants.
“Many of us are left with no choice but to disconnect our homes from public water supply and continue using boreholes. And for those houses that do not have boreholes, they buy 10 gallons of water for N1,000 from hawkers. Can you imagine the amount of money they expend on buying water for their domestic use every day of the week? It is however unfortunate that the Lagos State government neglects this vital need.
“The water situation in Lagos was not always this bad. I want to appeal to Governor Sanwo-Olu to ensure that Lagosians have unrestricted access to potable water supply for a healthy state.”
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