Worried at the level of water contamination in the Niger Delta region, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Federal government through its ministry of Water Resources has developed a water safety plan that will help protect communities from taking contaminated water within the region.
This was disclosed yesterday by UNICEF Water and Sanitation Hygiene ((WASH) Specialist, Mr. Moustapha Niang during a two- day media dialogue held in AkwaIbom state.
According to him, the plan, when fully in operation will also help to create awareness to the communities on water quality issues and its relationship with water related diseases in line with the Social Development Goals (SDGs).
He noted that despite all efforts made to improve portable water in the region,it is still faced with serious issues of ground water contamination either through bore holes or channels which must be tackle with a seriousness.
“There are cases of facial contamination some months after bore holes are drilled and in use, there are also cases of nitrate contamination due to scapage from nearby later ones and the use of fertilisers and pesticides for general purposes.
”Baylsea state in particular is plagued with iron and manganese contamination and this bring about esthatic issues which can lead to rejecting of the water”
The UNICEF specialist further added, ”the safety plan will further support the communities to carry out risk assessment practice the potential hazards and to mitigate such hazards through the entire water dam to ensure that water reaching the consumer is safe and acceptable, also develop their communities plan of how to protect water source from contamination as well as reinforce capacity of communities members to carry out simple bacterial testing.
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