ENUGU WATER SCARCITY: The Strong man who defeated previous administrations. Is the current Admin loosing it?

Access to clean water is the fundamental rights of citizens in any civilized society.

Even though Enugu State has a sizable metropolitan population and is a reasonably developed state, it continues to struggle to supply its citizens with enough clean water. 

The scorecard of public water supply from previous administrations in Enugu State is incredibly embarrassing. This article won't go into why other administrations had no effect on this sector, but one thing is certain: Water scarcity is always made worse during the dry season, which is also the time when failures in this sector become blatantly obvious.

 It worthy to note that the reservoir which serves the entire city frequently experiences drops in water levels, boreholes and wells are not excluded, so when this happens, there will be a drop in supply, which will no longer be sufficient to meet the demands of Enugu residents.

Meanwhile during rainy seasons water levels in wells, boreholes, etc. reach sustainable levels, both the public and the government adopt a relaxed attitude, leading to the sector's abandonment. This attitude is one of the causes of prolonged water issues in Enugu. It ought not to be so, it should be recognised and treated as a critical problem. A committee should be setup for monitoring and control.

How are the citizens managing?

Citizens rely on private water delivery businesses to make up for the shortfall. 

They choose store-bought bottled water, and some use private water delivery services. However, the majority of low-income households won't get far with their purchases.

For the majority of Enugu citizens, the financial difficulties and high cost of food makes purchasing water unaffordable. Both households and companies are severely impacted by this. 

In the manufacturing  & Agricultural sector,  water purchase reduces a company's earnings. Farmers are the ones who are most affected by the heat because they must irrigate their crops, purchasing water forces them to raise the cost of food.

 Streams and unsanitary locations are preferred by low-income rural communities.

 A photo of a youngster getting water from a gutter recently went viral on the internet. The boy is ultimately exposed to skin infections and water-borne illnesses like cholera, typhoid, etc., which makes this an eye sore. 

Additionally, the majority of streams are subject to inadequate waste treatment techniques and open defecation. 

Governor  Mbah's Assessment of the situation

When Governor Ndubuisi Mbah took office, he stated in an interview with Arise TV that the Oji River and Ajali Water Scheme can produce 130,000 cubic liters. 

Currently, barely 100,000 cubic liters are consumed each day. Additionally, he reiterated that mechanical and electrical flaws are the main cause of the issues. In order to fix the pumps, they go back and forth all the time. The pumps have outlived their designs, and the repairs have not worked. Purchasing and ordering things that are constructed to specifications is crucial.

He added that financial constraint is not a problem because he came from the private sector, he has no trouble obtaining funding. from financial institutions to get a head start,  

He claimed to have obtained money from the French Development Agency. In addition completed the GIS mapping. The French Development Agency has provided financing totaling fifty million dollars. With this money, they can start ordering pumps, which only takes four months to complete.

Shortly after assuming office to Governor Peter Mbah, he promised to find a solution to the water problem within 180 days of taking office, the citizens of Enugu held on to this promise but he clarified issues that the reason is not to boast but to demonstrate how urgent the matter was.

November 25, 2023 marked 180 days, Gov peter Mbah emerged as governor. The general public was invited to 9^th mile corner for 9^th mile water scheme inauguration, with 70 million litres of water daily capacity.

He ensured power supply doesn't create problem by building 4.4 megawatts gas plant to power the scheme.

He constructed 96 water galleries at various locations, in schools and densely populated areas. Water galleries are commendable but the distribution of pipe borne water to major residential areas is still a necessity and it still remains a challenge here. There is urgent need for water to be distributed at all homes and businesses. Efforts in distribution and meter connections in home has not been significant. Most residential areas are not yet in the distribution network. 

Emon Vision blog  gathered that only residents  in old residential areas are connected to the grid examples of such places are New Haven, Independence layout etc whereas residential areas such as Abakpa and Trans Ekulu known to be experiencing rapid urbanization are not connected.

Emon Vision blog gathered facts from Enugu State Water Cooperation, an officer who pleaded anonymity maintained that technical difficulties persists, the pumps are still experiencing mechanical faults especially from the Oji river station. This justified the water scarcity experienced during the festive season.

Lagos Times Newspaper asked about the prospects of expanding the network to cover more areas of the city and surrounding communities especially Abakpa Nike. We were referred to TLD construction company, the company handling the water distribution in Enugu State. As at the time of writing the report, they were unavailable for questioning.

Mr Dave who resides at Ibagwa community in Nike responded to our crew, he lamented that the Governor Mbah once mentioned that some buildings are erected on the water pipelines meant to distribute water in some areas, he should go ahead to demolish the buildings since he didn’t hesitate to demolish his shop at holyghost because he wanted to build Bus terminal.

Miss Nneka who resides at New Haven Extension, one of the areas experiencing growing urbanization revealed she sometimes transport water from New haven water gallery to her home which adds to her expenses

In Conclusion Water Distribution is still a major challenge, there is urgent need to distribute water to a considerable extent around the Enugu metropolis this includes Satellite towns and other places with growing urbanization. Transportation costs is equally high due to high fuel prices, it is still not feasible to transport water from water galleries to individual homes. This made the situation urgent to curtail high cost of water procurement that adds to inflation figures.

Climate changes have caused irregular rainfall patterns and prolonged dry seasons leaving the state more prone to drought, this means the situation of water scarcity and associated problems should be tackled substantially. More reservoirs should be built to counter the climate change and its uncertainties in the future.

GDP: Enugu State goal is to move the state’s GDP from $4.4billion to 30billion dollars by 2031, if businesses, industries and farmers source for water at a costly rate, this projection will not be attainable. Probably production stops during dry season, or dry season becomes a nightmare for industrialists

Public-Private Partnerships

 More companies need to be engaged in the distribution system, this will help to check vandalism, leakages and illegal connections from reservoirs.  Public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be an effective way to fund and implement improvements to the Oji water pipes. By collaborating with private sector companies, the Enugu State government can bring in the necessary expertise and capital to upgrade the water infrastructure. PPPs could also help improve the overall management and efficiency of the water supply system. Enugu State shouldn’t be left at the mercy of one company.

Rainwater harvesting. Enugu state experiences heavy dose of rain during rainy seasons so more storage tanks need to be built to collect  water as much as possible to mitigate the stinging effect of dry season.

Jacqueline C

Data Analyst writes from Enugu