Lagos, the mega-city grappling with inadequate potable water

By Ikenna Asomba

For several decades, improved access to portable water, especially in mega cities has been a major concern for governments in the world over.

For Lagos, a megacity with a population of over 21 million residents, providing safe drinking water has been a vital challenge for successive administrations, including the present administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola.

In 1980, the then civilian administration of Chief Lateef Jakande, through the State’s Water Board initiated the construction of 10 mini-waterworks, across the state, which supplied up to 3 million gallons of water daily to Lagosians.

Production capacity

But today, the Board, now Lagos State Water Corporation, LSWC, has constructed over 38 Water Facilities spread across the state, with a production capacity of over 210 Million Gallons/Day.

The facilities and their capacities in millions per day (mgd) are Gbagada with (1.0 mgd), VI Annex (1.0 mgd), V.I Annex (1.0 mgd), Aguda (1.0 mgd), Ishasi (1.0 mgd), Bariga (2.4 mgd), Dolphin (1.0 mgd), Isolo (3.0 mgd), Onikan (1.0 mgd), Ikoyi (2.4 mgd), V.I Saka Tinubu (1.0 mgd), Ikorodu (3 mgd), Eredo (1.4 mgd), Epe (3.0 mgd), Badagry (2.4 mgd).

Others are Oto Awori (2.4 mgd), Igando (2.4 mgd), Idimu (1.0 mgd), Iwaya (1.0 mgd), Oworoshoki (1.0 mgd), Apapa (2.4 mgd), Ajegunle (0.1 mgd), Amuwo (3 mgd), Ikeja (1.0 mgd), Alausa (0.3 mgd), Surulere (2.4 mgd), Iju (45 mgd) and Adiyan with the largest capacity of (70 mgd).

The state has also designed a 10-year Master Plan (2010-2020), that will see its water capacity, grow from 210 mgd to 745 mgd by December 2020.

But despite this projection, Vanguard has gathered that residents in major suburbs such as Makoko, Ajegunle, Isashi, Bariga, Okokomaiko, Iba, Isolo, Otta-Ikosi, Eredo, Epe, Badagry, Oto Awori, Idimu, Iwaya, Amuwo-Odofin, Shomolu among others are still grappling with inadequate potable water, as government’s master plan has yielded little or no fruits.

Against this backdrop, residents, particularly land owners, have arbitrarily taken to the construction of boreholes instead of the water mains provided by the LWSC. This has also given rise to the number of local water entrepreneurs, including sachet water sellers found across the state’s suburbs.

Another worrisome situation, noticeable in these suburbs is the clustering of pipes in drains and canals. This health experts have decried to be the major cause of diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, malaria and typhoid fever.

Access to potable water

Lamenting the situation, Elder Silas Ibekwe, who resides in Okokomaiko area of Lagos, said: Ït is unfortunate that even before this democratic dispensation, series of promises to adress the inaccessibility of potable water have been made by politicians, especially during electioneering campaigns. But when they get elected, the promises are never fulfilled.

“More worrisome is the fact that 99 per cent of Lagosians rely on bore-hole water. It’s just God that has been faithful to Lagosians against the outbreak of water-borne epidermic, because these boreholes run through drains and canals.

“For me, I think the Lagos State government owes the masses the responsibility to provide adequate access to potable water, because we all pay our taxes. If I buy a 25 litre of water for N50 everyday, you can imagine how much I spend in a month just for water.”

Similarly, Mr. Chinedu Nnanna, a resident in Coker area of the state said: “The situation is worrisome in my area. The only time I had access to potable water was when a Councillor provided one for us in his compound. But it stopped running three months after.

“immediately, he stepped down from office, the water tank was disconnected from the public. This has been a perrennial problem in Lagos, so I expect the government to take urgent action in addressing this situation, so as to give Lagosians the reason for paying their taxes.”

According to Mr. Peter Erabor, a resident in Ajegunle, “There has never been access to potable water here. I am saying so, because what we have here is water brought in by tankers, which we can not be sure of the sources, but we buy from them.   Also, there are few people that say they have personaal bore-hole, but having investigated their claims as a water expert, I discovered they don’t even have water treatment plants.

“Successive governments have always put politics in their promises to address this abysmal situation. Several times, we see people digging the highway, laying pipes here and there in the community, but as far as I know, we have never had any benefit of potable water here in Ajegunle. Rather, residents here depend largely on satchet water (pure water) as their basic source of drinking water, which is not really hygeinic.”

However, decrying this situation, the Group Managing Director, Lagos State Water Corporation, LSWC, Engr. Shayo Holloway had said that the state will require over 540 million gallons of water daily to address the water shortage in the state, adding that the water requirement of the state may increase following the influx of citizens of other states into the state.

He said: “With the population of the state, our current water demand daily is about 540 million gallons per day. The state has an installed capacity of 210 million of gallons per day, leaving the state with a shortfall of 330 millions of gallons per day.”

- Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com