Lagos — The Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NHSA) has said it has established 8 hydrological areas across the country to promote water resources development and management, calling on all the tiers of government to give required support towards the projects.

NHSA Executive Director, Mr. John Chabo, recently disclosed the establishment of hydrological offices in Lagos, stating that of the eight areas, one area office is domiciled in Lagos State and is designed to address not only ground water level fluctuation, but also changes in chemistry that will affect the quality of the water consumed by Lagosians.

He added that at the "full completion, we will be in a better position to understand the dynamics of this coastal plan aquifer, which underlie most of our coastal cities and proffer advice to the riparian states on its development and management".

He pointed out that water resources development and utilisation "is on the concurrent list in the 1999 Constitution, meaning all the tiers of government must be active and proactive in the development and management of water resources for the benefit of the general populace".

Chabo explained that integrated water resources management (IWRM) principle "requires the participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making process in water resources development in order to assure fair allocation, management, joint diagnostic analysis and conflict resolution".

He added that there should be a sense of ownership within the community in which such projects are domiciled. "This project is domiciled in Lagos in Lagos State, designed to address not only ground water level fluctuation, but also changes in chemistry that will affect the quality of the water consumed by Lagosians".

He said it was important to partner with the stakeholders because aquifer systems that straddle more than one state "are under the control of the Federal Government, which is meant to ensure equitable utilisation by all the riparian states".

The NHSA boss said the task for the hydrological agency is enormous and that it will be impossible to execute all the projects that cover the entire country from the headquarters only, thus calling on all the stakeholders to support the agency and its projects.

He added that the stakeholders are invited to the workshop in connection with the execution of the projects of the agency for the generation of data that "will aid our planning, development and management of the country's groundwater resources, which has been designed as Groundwater Monitoring Network Project".