Ilorin — Decades of acute water scarcity for residents in Ilorin and its metropolis will gradually come to an end as the N6.5 billion contract awarded to ensure the repairs and replacement of old pipes and construction of more dams is 99 per cent completed

Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Abdulmumin Katibi who took journalists round the sites where the repair works of tracing and replacing the pipes for the better part of yesterday lamented that cumulative problems of water shortage was as a result of some pipes that were as old as 50 years which he said negated the world health standard of replacing the pipes once in a decade.

In order to avert water crisis where the big pipes would burst and cause incalculable damage, he said most of the pipes were being replaced and reconnected immediately. Already, he said this development had improved the water supply to the residents, stressing that the repair works were, however, ongoing.

"Also, we have a new project of pipelines distribution within the state capital so that the water being produced will get to individual houses," he said.