Reuben Buhari
1 July 2009
analysis
Lagos — From a situation of acute shortage of portable drinking water within Kaduna metropolis, the situation now has gradually improved from were wells and water vendors with the four-wheel metal carts. Currently, Kaduna residents can turn on the taps to fetch water from the hitherto dry taps.
Mr. Arziki Dauda lives in Barnawa in Kaduna South Local Government and works at the Federal Secretariat in Kawo, Kaduna North local government area. Every morning when going to work, he never forgets to put about three 25 liter gallons in the booth of his car. This is because he uses the gallons to fetch water from a tap within the sprawling secretariat that sometimes flow around noon.
The tap water is for drinking and which his family augments with sachets water, while the one his family buys from the water vendors is used for other domestic purposes. But some of his neighbours on the same street with him have solved the water problem in their houses by digging boreholes to which they sometime allow some of their less fortunate neighbours to come in and fetch, which has to be at certain hours.
Even areas like Barnawa, Malali and Ungwan Rimi GRAs that initially had water regularly from their taps some years back, have been facing the same water shortage, although theirs isn't as severe as some of the slums that dot the metropolis. For those areas, their only sources of water are either wells which its quality is suspect or when it rain, especially during the raining season. This is despite the fact that the state, surprisingly, has an extensive network of water pipes that cover the metropolis even though most part of the years the pipes remained empty of water.
The problem of water supply in the state became so bad that it became a campaign issue during the 2007 gubernatorial election among the contestants. Each was assuring the electorates at that time that a vote for them was equal to solving the water problem of the state. The water problem in Zaria which seem to be the worse hit in the state at that time was also the most quoted by the politicians because it was in Zaria that the highest number of water vendors are found, except for those places like Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU) which generates water from its own dam and other establishments within the ancient city that have other source of water.
But two year down the line, the situation has started changing. The administration of Namadi Sambo, conscious of the strategic importance of clean water to the welfare of the state regarding their health, has consciously been intervening in the sector. His intervention is coming years after nothing was done to the three water works in the state which have continued to deteriorate while the population of the state keeps increasing since 1929 when the first Water Treatment Plant with the capacity to produce 27 million litres of water daily was commissioned.
As the population of the town grew, demand for portable water continued to increase, leading to the construction and commissioning in 1972 of the second Water Treatment Plant at Malali, with an installation capacity of 90mld. Over the years, Kaduna town continued to record a rapid increase in population, with corresponding increase in demand for potable water. This necessitated the construction and inaugurating of the largest Water Treatment Plant in the country, of 150mld in the year 1987.
But even the three water works with a total installation capacity of 267mld couldn't solve the water needs of the state as the population keeps increasing without a corresponding increase in water supply leading to water shortages in the metropolis. The deteriorating state of the water works was compounded by the incidents of August 2006 and 2007, when fire damaged some electrical equipment at the High lift Pumping Station of Kaduna North New Water Works, Malali, that further threw the state into a situation where getting clean water, especially from the state water board was akin to sourcing fuel during a scarcity period.
THISDAY investigation however revealed that the state government started with the problematic Zaria water works. It started a water scheme there with the capacity to produce 150 million litres of water daily. The New Water Treatment Plant which was flagged-off on May 13, with a completion period of 36 months, will not only serve Zaria Local Government, but the Sabon Gari, Giwa, Kudan, Soba and Kubau Local Government areas as well.
Other towns and villages that will benefit from the project include Zaria City Wusasa, Tudun Wada, Sabon Gari, Samaru, Shika, Mararraban Yakawada, Basawa, Hunkuyi, Dambo, Maigana, Dutsenwai, and Pambeguwa. In addition to replacing the burnt parts at Malali, government also installed four 715kW/3.3KV Motor Control Centers for Kamazo Pumps in Kamazo village. Three 200kW/3.3KV Motor Control Centers for Tudun Wada Pumps and 11KV Incomer, Protective Gadgets and Cabling at Kaduna North New Water Works High Lift Pumping Station. Others include Supply of two transformers.
Besides these immediate measures, contracts were also awarded which includes the rehabilitation of Transmission Mains and Service Reservoirs of Kaduna Metropolitan Water Supply; rehabilitation of distribution network of Kaduna Metropolitan Water Supply Scheme; supply and installation of plant and equipment for the rehabilitation of water treatment plants and booster stations for Kaduna Metropolitan Water Supply Scheme. It also gave contract for a detailed engineering design for the expansion of Kaduna Metropolitan Water Supply Scheme. The work includes the design of a new dam, impounding reservoir, treatment plant, pumping main and extension of the distribution system at the cost of N184.9m.
Sambo, while inaugurating the water supply improvement equipment at the Malali Water works said "We have made the provision of potable water supply one of our cardinal objectives for the obvious reason that no meaningful development could be achieved where potable water supply to the people continue to be a mirage. We are therefore aware that as a people, our socio-economic development depends to a great extent on the provision of regular and reliable water supply. That explains why we have remained resolute in the execution of numerous water projects in virtually all parts of Kaduna State."
He also added that there are ongoing National Urban Water Sector Reform Project, aimed at increasing quality and coverage of water supply in the towns of Kafanchan, Kagoro, Zonkwa and Saminaka, and that the Kachia Water Supply project abandoned for more than a decade is being revived with the award of contract for engineering design review. Another major water improvement work the current administration undertook was at the Nigeria Airforce Base in Kaduna, which for a long time was experiencing scarcity of water.
The main water supply to the Nigerian Air Force Base, Mando Kaduna is from the Malali Water Works. The water is delivered into two underground concrete storage reservoirs from which it is pumped to two overhead tanks. Thereafter, it flows to the Base distribution network pipelines. This arrangement was adequate until recently when the NAF Base began to experience severe shortage of water supply occasioned by general increase in water demand from increased population in the metropolis.
This dire situation got to a head in 2006/2007, when the need for an alternative source of water supply to the Base to augment supply from the Kaduna State Water Board mains became paramount. Various options to alleviate the water shortage were considered and the alternative of rehabilitating the dam with an accompanying package plant prevailed.
The NAF Base Earth Dam was built in the late 60s shortly after the Base was established but had never been used as an alternative portable water source. Unfortunately at this period the dam had become deteriorated and was in a very poor state. The upstream slope had been eroded due to the effect of wave action thereby reducing the embankment width. At the downstream of the embankment, were areas with severe erosion regime and the spill way had virtually collapsed and required immediate attention.
What the state did at the NAF base include rehabilitation of the 1.7Mcm earth dam, construction of 2,400,000l/day intake pontoon; construction of a 150mm dia ductile iron pipe rising main of 1.14Km; construction of a 2,400,000l/day package treatment plant; construction of a 200,000 litres overhead tank; construction of a 150mm dia uPVC of 1.55Km to be integrated with the existing network; supply and installation of a 114KVA standby generating set; construction of guard house, chemical room, plant canopy, plant fence and construction of 2600m network pipeline reticulation of 75mm uPVC pipes. The project was successfully completed in less than nine months at a cost of N169.3m.
At the inauguration ceremony which had Sambo, Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Bello Haliru who represented the national chairman of PDP, Vincent Ogbulafor and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Olusenyi Petinrin, the governor said the ceremony was to "give the officers and men of the Nigerian Air Force Base, a taste of the fruit of the democracy we have jointly labored to entrench," while the Chief of Air Staff described the scheme as an "unprecedented gift to the Nigerian Air Force" and expressed profound gratitude to the governor.
With billions of naira already spent on the provision of water in the state, improvement has been noticed. However, the challenge that still lies ahead is to ensure that as the population grows, the water supply simultaneously also grows without a break. The state also has to make sure that clean water quickly reaches the rest of the local governments that are yet to feel the impact of the Sambo's determination to provide clean water and other amenities.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
