Water provision: An essential need for human existence.

By: Oluwaseun Boye

According to the late Afro beat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, in one of his songs ” Water, e no get enemy, Pmi o lota” , is an indication that Water is life.

Therefore, finding water for living is a huge responsibility on the part of both government and individuals, apart from the fact that water is used for  drinking to survive, people have many other uses for water amongst others.

World Health Organisation (WHO) hyped on the importance of water in human existence as second to none. Safe and readily available water is important for public health, whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production or recreational purposes.

Improved water supply and sanitation, and better management of water resources, can boost countries’ economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

However, health experts believe that contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks.

This is particularly the case in health care facilities where both patients and staff are placed at additional risk of infection and disease when water, sanitation, and hygiene services are lacking. Globally, 15% of patients develop an infection during a hospital stay, with the proportion much greater in low-income countries.

In  Ogun State, the present administration led by Prince Dapo Abiodun has initiated plans to ensure that water is supplied across the cities in the State. For many years, water was a scarce commodity in the State, especially in Abeokuta, the state capital where households had to find alternative means to get water,which is a basic necessity of life.

The Ogun State Water Corporation in Arakanga, Abeokuta North Local Government Area of the State, which had  hitherto gone into comatose, with pumping capacity of 103.68 million litres per day could barely sustain one quarter of the population would soon become a pride of the State as government is not resting on its oars to make things work again.

Governor Dapo Abiodun, who believes that water is not only an essential commodity but a right to which people should not be denied, swung into action by embarking on an assessment needs of the corporation .This initiative was geared towards removing obstacles that could hinder  steady flow of water to all nooks and crannies of the State. Findings revealed that some of the water works located across the State were operating in low capacity which experts stated will not be able to cater for the needs of the people as expected.

Some of these water works were said to have been abandoned and  those maintained were poorly  carried out, the restoration plan was one of the major focus of the Dapo Abiodun led government is working towards to address. In achieving this, the State government embarked on survey of Abeokuta Arakanga,  Ijebu-ode,  Yemoji, Ota Water Schemes and findings showed that all hands were on deck at rehabilitating  the moribund water works which had gulped huge sums of money to bring them back to full capacity.

In view of this development, the State government embarked on wholistic rehabilitation of Arakanga dam that was commissioned as far back as 1962 with manually operated steel gates, as well as repair of 40,000 tonnes of water storage tanks, installation and laying of new pipes to replace already  damaged ones,repair of eroded section of the dam wall, removal of vegetation from the spill way, dam wall within the storage area. In addition, the five corroded gates of the State Water Corporation’s Dam had been replaced with new ones,while electro- mechanical civil works at the dam had been settled.

Presently, repair work is nearing completion at Arakanga  which will at the end of the day will boost the volume of water supply to Abeokuta and environs.

Though, the present administration met the Corporation’s f production and distribution challenges due to decadence in infrastructure as well as operating at less than 10 percent of its water production and distribution capacity, the Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Water Resources, Engr. Kunle Otun said his team is working round the clock to return the lost glory of the Corporation.

Efforts put in place by this team has started yielding results, as it has moved to address those challenges by  commencing  the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Arakanga dam which was has never been rehabilitated since it was constructed in 1962. This rehabilitation works when completed will last for another 40 years, as the upgrade from mechanical control system to an automatic system. All things being equal from July 2021, Arakanga dam which produces 82 million litres per day will increase capacity to 162 million litres per day with a target of additional 20,000 new customers.

Furthermore, part of the plan to ensure repair of water works across the State is the recent collaboration the State had with the Federal Government to rehabilitate Ota Water Scheme at Iju, in Ado Odo Ota Local Government Area to allow for the expansion of the scheme and make it functional. This initiative was commendable particularly, as the project was said to have been signed in 2018, a project abandoned since 2004 by RCC Nigeria Limited due to paucity of funds and other logistics.

With government determination at ensuring that water is supplied to every nook and cranny of the State,  government should find means of  ensuring that new settlements such as Lukosi, Laderin,  Ikereku- Ayedun, Ori- Osoko Olokuta  and other settlements have access to potable water supply. The supply could be done through Public Private Partnership ( PPP) arrangement to ease the burden on government,  due to the topography of some of these locations, government can adopt high tech methods of drilling boreholes and erect of over head tanks at central points to cater for residents in such areas.

There is no gainsaying the fact that when water comes from improved and more accessible sources, people spend less time and effort physically collecting it, meaning they can be productive in other ways. This can also result in greater personal safety by reducing the need to make long or risky journeys to collect water. Better water sources also mean less expenditure on health, as people are less likely to fall ill and incur medical costs, and are better able to remain economically productive.

With children particularly at risk from water-related diseases, access to improved sources of water can result in better health, and therefore better school attendance, with positive longer-term consequences for their lives.

Oluwaseun Boye is an Information Officer with the Ogun State Ministry of Information and Strategy and writes via [email protected]

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