ACCORDING to the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, “Water, e no get enemy, omi o lota”. This is an indication that water is life. Therefore, finding water for living is a huge responsibility on the part of governments and individuals. Water is used for drinking to survive, but people have many other uses for it. The World Health Organisation (WHO) harps on the importance of water in human existence. 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 recognised 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. Health experts believe that contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to the 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 healthcare 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 per cent 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 the basic necessity of life. The Ogun State Water Corporation in Arakanga, Abeokuta North Local Government Area of the State, which had hitherto been comatose, with pumping capacity of 103.68 million litres per day could barely sustain one quarter of the population. But it will soon become a pride of the state as the government makes things work again. Governor Abiodun, believing that water is not only an essential commodity but a right to which people should not be denied, swung into action, embarking on an assessment of the 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 waterworks located across the state were operating below capacity. Some of these waterworks were said to have been abandoned, while those maintained were poorly managed. The restoration plan is one of the major focus of the Abiodun-led government is working towards to address. In achieving this, it embarked on a survey of Abeokuta Arakanga, Ijebu-Ode, Yemoji, Ota water schemes. Findings showed that all hands were on deck to rehabilitate the moribund waterworks, which had gulped huge sums of money, and bring them back to full capacity. The state government embarked on holistic rehabilitation of the Arakanga dam commissioned as far back as 1962 with manually operated steel gates. It ensured the 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, and 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 have been replaced with new ones, and electro-mechanical civil works at the dam done. Presently, repair work is nearing completion at Arakanga which at the end of the day will boost the volume of water supply to Abeokuta and environs. Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Water Resources, Engr. Kunle Otun, said his team was working round the clock to return the lost glory of the corporation. The efforts put in place by this team have started yielding results. It has commenced the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Arakanga dam, which was has never been rehabilitated since it was constructed in 1962. The rehabilitation, when completed, will ensure that the facility lasts for another 40 years, with the upgrade from a mechanically control system to an automatic system. All other things being equal, from July 2021, Arakanga dam, which produces 82 million litres per day, will produce 162 million litres per day with a target of additional 20,000 new customers.
Furthermore, part of the plan to ensure repair of waterworks 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. This is meant to allow for the expansion of the scheme and make it functional. This initiative is commendable particularly as the project was said to have been signed in 2018. It had been abandoned since 2004 due to paucity of funds and other logistics. The government should ensure 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). Due to the topography of some of these locations, the government can adopt high tech methods of drilling boreholes, erecting overhead 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.
- Boye, an Information Officer with the Ogun State Ministry of Information and Strategy, writes in via Oluwaseunboye@gmail.com
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