An expert in chemical engineering and environmental science, Engr Abdullahi Abdulsalam, has voiced concerns over continuous oil spills in the Niger Delta, saying they pose a severe risk to surface and groundwater quality.
Abdulsalam said given that water plays a role in nine out of 10 natural disasters, it must be at the centre of adaptation plans if Nigeria was interested in meeting development and climate change goals.
The expert said his research, however, promotes sustainable development and application of chemical and environmental engineering by assessing toxic contaminants in wastewater and developing methods of wastewater purification.
According to him, it will help in mitigating the problems of public and environmental health in Nigeria and worldwide.
Addressing newsmen, he said: "The World Bank estimates that 2.3 billion people lack access to basic hand washing facilities, 3.6 billion lack safely managed sanitation services and 2 billion lack access to safely managed drinking water services worldwide. In many regions, pollution, increased rainfall unpredictability, growing populations, more water-intensive patterns of expansion, gaps in access to clean water supplies and sanitation and developing gaps all combine to make water one of the biggest threats to sustainable development, economic advancement, and the eradication of poverty."
He added that the persistent problem of water scarcity is prevalent in rising markets, noting that the World Health Organisation estimates that a regional drought in Somalia last year caused 43,000 deaths.
He stated: "The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has revised its estimate of Argentina's GDP growth from 2.0 per cent to 0.2 per cent in 2023 due to the country's severe drought. Approximately one billion people and a GDP of $2 trillion live in high-water stress zones in Asia.
"The rapid deterioration of surface and groundwater quality caused by anthropogenic activities such as urbanisation, poor land use, agricultural activities and oil spills has made environmental pollution, particularly water pollution, a top concern for nations around the world.
"Most of the time, domestic and industrial wastewater is contaminated with dissolved solids, minerals, heavy metals, toxic anions, and organic and inorganic chemicals that have negative environmental and public health consequences."
On his research, he added: "My research promotes sustainable development and application of chemical and environmental engineering by assessing the toxic contaminants in wastewater and developing a novel method of wastewater purification that will help in mitigating the problems of public and environmental health in Nigeria and worldwide. Beyond the production of treated water, there are other enormous reasons why this wastewater research would be of great relief to society. Most importantly, towards the prevention of disease that could impact the health of millions globally and the environment as a result of carcinogenic based, and other toxic emerging contaminants present in the wastewater, drinking water, and other sources of wastewater.
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"There is a need for robust continuous research in this area of bioremediation to develop in a very large scale across the world with responsible implementation especially in the developing countries so as to be able to solve the problems of water scarcity because this method of water treatment is cheap and can be affordable by water utilities to adopt.
"In quest for more knowledge and developments in this area of research, I have advanced my research by currently working on wastewater treatments using microorganisms supported with different adsorbents developed and modified from locally sourced biomass materials which are cheap and can be easily sourced for in different parts of the world."
