Lack of public water supply in Nigeria has led to the growth of many bottled water firms, with the market hitting N938.6 billion.
“The hot weather and poor availability of pipe-borne water in Nigeria leads to strong demand for bottled water, and this continued in 2016, despite a strong rise in unit prices caused by the higher production costs, largely due to depreciation of the local currency,” says a March 2017 report released by Euromonitor International.
“Off-trade volume sales of bottled water rose by 7 percent in 2016 to reach sales of 28.9 billion litres,” the report says.
Euromonitor maintains that the tendency to spend many hours in traffic in major Nigerian cities has also driven the growth of the industry.
Nigerians are constantly being exposed to danger as potable water remains a scarce product in many parts of the country, with millions drinking from sources with high risk of contamination, such as boreholes, wells and broken pipes.
The population of Nigeria is booming, and infrastructure and services are failing to keep up with the growth. Mismanagement of the public water system has compounded the problem, leading to warnings of a looming water crisis in Nigeria, especially Lagos.
Over 63 million Nigerians have no choice but to get water from wherever they can, while 57 million Nigerians don’t have access to safe water, according to Wateraid.
Many Nigerians in Birning Gaye in Bauchi State; Abaji in Abuja; many parts of Ebonyi, and northern Nigeria do not have access to clean water, as their major source is either dirty flowing or still water.
The water needs of Lagos are put at over 700 million gallons per day. The state has capacity of a little over 200 million gallons per day, but actually produces and distributes between 145 to 150 million gallons each day from its facilities, leaving a huge gap of over 500 million gallons.
Muminu Badmus, managing director, Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), attributed the challenge to poor power supply and population explosion, saying that Lagos is a city with an ever increasing population that puts constant pressure on water supply.
Many Nigerians rely on privately provided boreholes, sold at N10 to N50 per 20 litre gallon. Many of the boreholes and wells are poorly treated, thereby leading to water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid, and dysentery, among others.
Ikechukwu Ibeabuchi, CEO of MD Services, which produces Klopp Water Cure, a water treatment chemical, said many parts of Nigeria such as Ebonyi have a water-borne disease known as guinea worm, as there are not more than three firms in Nigeria producing water treatment chemicals.
“States are not even interested in water. If they are, they would be encouraging citizens to treat the water they drink,” Ibeabuchi said.
Chinyere Nwafor, supervisor at Nigeria BrancaWater Company, said the non-availability of potable water is responsible for typhoid in most parts of the country, urging government to create regulations that will make potable water accessible to the people at affordable rates.
Peter Nwaneri, a supervisor at the University of Lagos, urged government to declare a state of emergency on water, admonishing Nigerians to filter or boil water before drinking.
Similarly, many Nigerian landlords build septic tanks close to boreholes. Experts warn that this could contaminate the water and spread diseases. They call for adherence to the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) standards of 33 feet away from the septic tank.
“If a borehole is too close to a septhere must be a leakage. You must avoid the possibility of any leakage to your borehole; you must bind it thoroughly so that there are no perforations,” said Taiwo Ajayi, a professor of Geology at Obafemi Awolowo University.
The World Water Day is an annual event celebrated by the United Nations (UN) every March 22. Nigeria is blessed with seas, lakes, dams and brines.
The country has 264 dams but they are not put to use to irrigate farms or produce electricity. Experts say this is one of the reasons Nigeria still relies on rain-fed agriculture.
ODINAKA ANUDU, TIAMIYU ADIO, ANTHONIA OBOKOH GIFT DIKE & CHUKWUDI NWANERI
