Agha Ibiam
20 May 2008
column
Lagos — In a recent survey conducted by the Federal Ministry of Health, only 15 per cent of villages have adequate and potable drinking water. What they have is inadequate and a great percentage of the water sources are broken. In view of this, experts say there is still an urgent need to have a well coordinated system for provision, maintenance and operation of water sources, especially in rural areas. Agha Ibiam writes
If water does not have enemy according to a popular afro beat musician, late Fela Anikolapo-Kuti, then why are people choosy on the type of water they drink? Presently, it appears that this essential but scarce commodity has attracted a lot of enemies to itself due to the way producers' package and presents it for public consumption.
There are so many names today that are associated with table water, that buyers are confused on the one to patronise. But the question observers ask, are these table waters potable. Nutritionists have defined drinking water as water that is intended to be ingested through drinking by humans. "Not all bottled water is the same," Timothy Iheanacho, a consumer said. He said most bottled water sold in Nigeria is not necessarily cleaner or safer than tap water. Since water is key to health, one needs to be sure of its source, he said.
Experts said water must have some sufficient quality to serve as drinking water. A potable water supply is one which is drinkable. Table water or potable water is treated water that meets that quality standard for human consumption and other uses. Potable water may be packaged or unpackaged as the case may be. Most table water today includes treated water that is packaged in plastic bottles or sachets, popularly known as "pure water".
Water, according to scientists plays significant roles within the human body. It comprises 60 per cent of the human body, 75 per cent of the brain, 82 per cent of the blood, 25 per cent of the bone and more than 70 per cent of solid tissue, such as muscle, in the human body. Besides oxygen, it is said to be the most important nutrient in the body with an important role for nearly every major function, regulating body temperature, carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells, removing waste, cushioning joints and protecting organs and tissues.
Dr. Augustine Ehimen Okoruwa, head of technical, research and development division, UAC Nigeria Plc, explained that potable water must be free of pathogens (disease causing organisms), have a desirable taste, odour (smell), colour, turbidity (cloudiness) and contain no harmful chemicals.
Sparkling water also known as carbonated water, is potable water into which carbon dioxide gas has been dissolved, and is the major and defining component of most "soft drinks". The process of dissolving carbon dioxide gas in the water is called carbonation. The process can also occur naturally to produce carbonated mineral water, he said.
Today, sparkling water, Okoruwa maintained is produced by passing pressurised carbon dioxide through potable water. The pressure increases the solubility and allows more carbon dioxide to dissolve than would be possible under standard atmospheric pressure. When the bottle is opened, the pressure is released, allowing the gas to come out of the solution, thus forming the characteristic bubbles.
It is not only on food stuff that the country is challenged. However, the country is also facing drinking water scarcity, a situation that has been identified for years. "It is important to note that due to scarcity of water in most places, drinking water is often gotten from doubtful sources, which is a major potential source of water borne diseases. This is a great concern to many sectors in this present administration as they try to implement strategies to meet the health millennium development goals (MDGs) in 2015," a former minister of health said.
The minister said the problem of poor sanitary and the increase in the prevalence of water related diseases have been of great concern to the government. Then the high prevalence of water related diseases like diarrhea, cholera, malaria and a host of others are also of great concern to the government.
According to her, 2006; 3,562,065 cases and 6,004 deaths from malaria was reported, while diarrhea was 1,114,186 cases and 4,936 deaths. Cholera still occurs in epidemic proportion in most communities in Nigeria. "These problems usually bring pains and sufferings to us as a people. This is more so because there are some cost-effective measures and technologies available to avoid this sort of calamities, if the people are empowered with information and simple remedies like water disinfectant," the former minister said.
The Federal Ministry of Health in 2007 approved the Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) - NIS 554, 2007 in an attempt to ensure that water meant for drinking meet the minimum quality standard as recommended. The purpose is to safeguard the public from the hazard of water pollution and contamination," the minister noted.
As it is now, it appears that most table water producers are using spring water as source. Spring water, as the name implies, is the water flowing out of the ground from a natural spring. A spring is a point where ground water flows out of the ground, and where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface. Aquifers are rock layers that permit ground water flow in appreciable quantities, Okoruwa explained.
"Spring water may form into a pool or flow downhill, or in surface streams. Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks. This may give the water flavour and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending upon the nature of the geology or rock structure through which it passes. Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called 'soda springs".
"Most table water comes from well water obtained by sinking holes into the ground to reach the water table. Because it is not flowing it is more prone to contamination that is why much treatment is required before is suitable for consumption. A survey from communities around Kerang and Ikogosi shows that the people around there live longer and healthier because of the natural water source," the expert said. Harmful bacteria, he claimed are found in most bottled waters. Untreated or inadequately treated water from wells and other sources can contain sufficient numbers of disease causing organisms such as bacteria, parasites and viruses," he said.
Mrs. Chinwe Ikegwuonu, a public health practitioner with Ministry of Health, Anambra State who is in-charge of integrated management of childhood illness programme said most diseases children suffer from is as a result of bad water and poor sanitation. "But if we take off what we drink, we will have drastic reduction from diarrhea cases because many of them don't have access to good drinking water."
But the question is do consumers really know what they are drinking? According to Ikechukwu Eze, said most times he does not even know the water he drinks, especially when on traffic jam, he said after quenching his appetite with bottled water without checking the producer's name. But another question that is posed to consumers is: is all bottled water basically the same? Can buyers be confident they are getting safe and suitable water when they buy a bottle at a grocery store, supermarkets or while driving in traffic?
Okoruwa said not all bottled water are the same. The consumers still doesn't know what they're drinking. They still don't know by looking at the labels, what they're getting and they are not getting it from a spring. Very few consumers are aware of the difference between treated table water and spring water, he told THISDAY.
As an expert, production process of impurities in raw water from different sources varies from gases, organic and inorganic materials, and minerals to domestic sewage and industrial wastes. Although many water sources are utilised by humans, some contain disease vectors or pathogens and cause long-term health problems if they do not meet certain water quality guidelines. These impurities make water unsuitable for many purposes. Such raw water must therefore be subjected to treatment and the quality of the raw water and the intended use determines the complexity of treatment given.
He gave vivid account of how most of the potable water is processed. He said the raw water is treated solely or in combination of aeration/coagulation/flocculation and sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and packaging. Aeration is done by exposing the water to air (oxygen) which helps to eliminate odour, objectionable taste, ferrous and manganese ions and other impurities. In pre-filtration, he explained that raw water is passed through coarse filters to remove large particles. During coagulation, a chemical such as alum is added to the raw water and stirred to form sticky globules that attach to small particles made up of bacteria, silt and other impurities. The water is then kept in a settling tank where the globs, or floc, sink to the bottom. After this, the water is pumped very slowly across a large basin and filtered.
Filtration involves passing the water through layers of sand, activated carbon (coal) and other granular material to remove microorganisms and any remaining floc or silt. This stage of purification mimics the natural filtration of water as it moves through the ground. After the water is filtered, it is subjected to chemical disinfection by chlorination and or ozone oxidation or ultraviolet light to kill any micro-organisms that might have made it through the filtration process.
Water-borne diseases from experts' point of view are "dirty-water" diseases caused by water that has been contaminated by human, animal, or chemical wastes. Worldwide, the lack of sanitary waste disposal and of clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing is to blame for over 12 million deaths a year. Water-borne diseases include cholera, typhoid, shigella, polio, meningitis, and hepatitis A and E. Human beings and animals can act as hosts to the bacterial, viral or protozoa organisms that cause these diseases. Millions of people have little access to sanitary waste disposal or to clean water for personal hygiene. Over 1.2 billion people are at risk because they lack access to safe freshwater.
Mrs. Ifeoma Anabuogu, programme manager for the guinea worm eradication, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, noted that most of the diseases today are traceable to water born diseases. "You can find a lot of things when someone drinks unpurified water. Some of them are guinea worm disease, polio viruses, meningitis and hipertises A and B and a lot of other diseases that are caused by chemicals, not just pathogens. According to her, water borne diseases are not on the increase. People, she believes are becoming a lot more informed about the causes of these diseases due to water that are not safe. In most cases, people are handicapped and do not have alternatives."In Nigeria, they are still a lot of villages that do not have any source of potable water. I will use the villages that have guinea worm disease as an example. In our recent survey, only 15 per cent of these villages have adequate cases of safe drinking water. What they have is inadequate, and greater per centage of these water sources are broken. There is still an urgent need to have a well coordinated system for provision, maintenance and operation of this water sources in the villages," she said.
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