It has been proved scientifically that man can survive for five weeks without food but can only survive a maximum of five days without water. Water, also called liquid gold, has been identified as the most important raw material for mankind. But now that the rain which feeds most water sources between early April and late November annually is gone, getting clean water is now a major challenge for many especially with public water supply system nonexistent in many communities, driving home the threat of pending water insecurity. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports:
Tolu came out of her apartment in anger and moved towards the back of her building, murmuring to herself. She was running late for work and there was no water. She was sure that her landlord’s wife had locked the tank again, a practice that is fast becoming a norm since the borehole stopped producing water like it used to in times past.
She went outside and met her co-tenants, from the remaining three flats, deliberating on where to get water. Contrary to her belief, the tank was not locked as they had pumped water for close to three hours and nothing had dropped in the tank. She was duly informed that the landlord’s wife could not lock the tank since there was no water and had sent her children out to look for water and they were also going to look for water.
She decided to follow them since she didn’t have a choice and was surprised when she saw people with water containers, moving about the estate looking for water; it was from their conversation that she learnt that this was the situation in most houses, the wells had dried up and boreholes were not producing water like before, making it difficult for those that used to give people water to continue doing so. Someone even told her that he takes jerrycans to the office to get water.
This situation is not peculiar to Tolu’s estate or community. In many communities across Nigeria, especially in urban areas where most people provide water for themselves, the situation is the same. Indeed, Nigeria is ranked among the most fragile states in the world due to its significant water challenges which vary from one region to another.
According to experts, increase in human population and agricultural activities in rural and urban areas have led to a corresponding over withdrawal of groundwater, and the popularity of borehole water which represents the largest portion of water supplies has added to the existing problem. It is said that influx of borehole in areas affect the water table, dry up wells and leads to deterioration of water quality as a result of unprofessional completion
Tade Onafowokan, a geologist stated that “as more and more boreholes get drilled in an area, the water table drops and this literarily means that new boreholes must be drilled deeper to reach the water table.”
Onafowokan’s assertion was supported by Dokun Luqman, a resident of New Bodija in Ibadan. He stated that “when we first drilled our borehole, we had no issues; there was plenty water and we were happy our water problem was over but immediately people saw that our borehole could produce water, those that drilled earlier but didn’t get water started drilling boreholes again and suddenly, water from our borehole dwindled. Now we can pump for five hours and at the end, we only get few pails of water.
“We are not alone in this situation; the fourth house from my compound condemned their borehole as it stopped producing water recently and they are now drilling another one. In fact, a church beside us also drilled a new borehole when the one they were using stopped producing water,” he added.
Water can be regarded as the most natural abundant compound that is found in the universe as it covers approximately three-quarters of the earth surface. But in spite of this abundance of water in the universe, some factors limit the volume of water that is utilised by humans and has become a major challenge in certain areas.
While some express the belief that Nigeria’s water challenge is aided by weak governance, poor management of water resources and poor policies, many emphasise that climate change is a key factor causing water scarcity. And according to a report, Nigeria is ranked as the 22nd least ready country to deal with the impacts of climate change by the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index because of its already small agricultural yields, political instability and poor governance.
According to findings, the availability of safe drinking water is limited in Nigeria and supplying sufficient water grows increasingly challenging as urban populations grow while water allocation and governance is also fragmented as the government lacks the resources and expertise to operate effectively.
In a report on its Water Security for All initiative, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in 2021 states that globally, more than 1.42 billion people, including 450 million children, are living in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability. This means that one in five children worldwide does not have enough water to meet their everyday needs. It, however, described Nigeria’s case as worthy of attention.
“The figures in Nigeria are particularly worrying, with 26.5 million, 29 per cent of Nigerian children experiencing high or extremely high water vulnerability. The world’s water crisis is not coming – it is here, and children are its biggest victims.
“When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting. When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses. And when water is not available in Nigerian communities, children cannot wash their hands to fight off diseases,” Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Nigeria said.
UNICEF emphasised that children in 37 ‘hotspot’ countries like Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania and Yemen face especially dire circumstances in terms of absolute numbers, the proportions of children affected and where global resources, support and urgent action must be mobilised.
As it is, the world is said to be running out of clean and fresh water to feed and nourish a growing global population, ensure sustainable human development, and maintain the health of the planet and some countries especially in Africa make up the highest of the 2.4 billion people; that is one-third of the world’s population that presently live in regions with scarcity of water.
There are projections that by 2050, more than half of the global population could stand at risk due to water stress from competition for water among its many users which has led to crisis in some regions especially in Northern Nigeria and border countries.
How do communities cope with water scarcity?
According to research findings, people in different regions have devised coping mechanisms and while the coping system has nothing to do with academic qualification, it was established that there is a relationship between coping mechanism adopted and level of income as well as place of residence.
The Nigerian government is conscious of its water situation and has been putting in place various policies to ameliorate the situation. In 2020, the government in collaboration with UNICEF released a WASH NORM study that showed that while there has been some progress through efforts of government agencies like the Ministry of Water Resources and their local nongovernmental partners, there is still much more work to be done in the country to ensure that all Nigerians have access to adequate and quality water and hygiene services.
The situation faced by Tolu and many Nigerians is a proof that sustainable and equitable access to safe drinking water remains a challenge in Nigeria as statistics indicate that over 86 per cent of Nigerians still lack access to a safely managed drinking water source and though about 70 per cent of Nigerians are reported to have access to a basic water services, more than half of these water sources have been proved to be contaminated.
UNICEF further found that while 73 per cent of the country’s population has access to a water source, only nine litres of water on the average is available to a Nigerian daily. And while the impact of water scarcity can be felt by all, children and families living in vulnerable communities are more vulnerable and face more trouble in coping with high water scarcity while having the lowest water services.
Globally, millions of people, especially children, die each year from contaminated water and about 95 per cent of deadly diseases in human body are associated with the consumption of liquid content, while over 25 million Nigerians are diagonosed to die from highly chemicalised products. By 2023, global population is expected to reach 8 billion, leading to an increase in demand on freshwater sources as well as advanced economic activities which will ultimately increase pressure on the earth’s finite resources.
This calls for collaborative and bold efforts at finding solutions to the prevalent water situation. There had been calls for increased awareness among leaders to create adequate strategies to combat the water insecurity. Experts suggest team work between national governments, multilateral bodies, UN agencies, professional associations, the private sectors and development partners to effectively develop and manage water sustainably.
In Nigeria, despite the policy of the Federal Government on provision of water in quantity and quality as contained in the Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2020, it is said that inadequate information about basic aquifer parameters is inimical to practical implementation of the policy.
UNICEF expressed the fear that with the current situation of things, Nigeria will miss the SDG targets on people’s access to water, unless there is a strong commitment and appropriate action taken by all stakeholders.
“We have to act now both to address the water crisis in Nigeria to prevent it from getting worse and if we want to meet the SDGs. We can only achieve water security for every Nigerian, including the Nigerian child through innovation, investment collaboration and by ensuring services are sustainable and well-managed. We must act for the sake of our children and our planet,” Peter Hawkins said.
However, experts are of the opinion that failure to treat water as a strategic, valuable and limited resource will enhance water insecurity, even in established water-secure populations and may threaten the economic and political security of nations, without exemption. They have called on government to take up the responsibility of providing potable water, make strong policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, more effective implementing organisations and appropriate instruments. They are of the opinion that strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions and agencies to be more pro-active in monitoring and compliance will help curb water insecurity.
However, since all advocacies thrive on collaboration and societal support, Nigerians while searching for water must also learn to protect their environment in order to stem the tide of water insecurity.