Things are looking good for residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital as public water taps that have remained dry for many years are now running again, thanks to the resuscitation of the two major sources of water supply to the city-Asejire and Eleyele water works by the state government. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU reports.
In Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the residents are in a happy mood, and they have many reasons to be so excited. Their water taps that have been running in fits and starts for many years are now running smoothly again thanks to the present administration in the state that has brought life back to the Asejire and Eleyele water works, the two major sources of public water supply to the city.
For more than seven years before the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration came on board in 2011, most parts of the city that used to enjoy tap water in their homes had no water due to the poor state of the two water projects.
Though previous administrations tried to resuscitate the facilities and provide the over three million residents of the ancient city with potable water, their efforts were certainly not good enough to address the biting water problem.
So acute was the shortage that many residents, especially women and children had to trek long distance from their homes with jerry cans and bowls on their heads in search of potable water, perhaps from the few boreholes and wells in the area.
And after several unfulfilled promises from past administrations, the residents, understandably, have learnt not to trust the government to provide them with water, but they were pleasantly surprised recently when they opened their taps at home, perhaps by accident, and water started running. It was pure excitement. Now homes connected to public water pipes are getting supply from the Oyo State Water Corporation and the people are happy.
Signs that things were getting back to normal was first noticed by The Nation when this correspondent noticed water oozing out from burst pipes in some parts of the city and technicians from the State Water Corporation fixing the fault, an indication that government had started pumping water into homes.
So excited were the residents to see their taps running that they have resorted to stockpiling the ‘essential’ commodity in big containers and jerry cans in anticipation of when the taps could go dry again, but that may not be any time soon as water has been flowing ceaselessly.
When The Nation went round the city, it was discovered that many of the pipes are no longer in good conditions having gone rust due to old age, and are leaking water. Though residents of the affected areas have made appeals to the water corporation to effect necessary repairs some have however resorted to self help where possible, by engaging the services of plumbers to fix the pipes and ensure constant supply.
It was gathered that in the past few months, the two major water works/dams-Asejire and Eleyele, had been undergoing overhauling by the state government to upgrade the facilities and meet the water needs of the people.
When The Nation visited the dams, extensive works had been carried out especially on Asejire where many of the old equipment have been replaced with new ones in an attempt to optimise the water production capacity of the facility. A new laboratory had been put in place equipped with modern gadgets while some equipment that were still in fairly good conditions were also refurbished. Some of the equipment already installed include the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, used for water analysis.
Besides, there was massive rehabilitation at the Asejire water scheme which has increased water production capacity of the scheme to over 80 percent.
Eight different High Lift Pumps were refurbished and replaced to enhance the volume of water pumped to the city from the Asejire water treatment Plant. With the new tools in place, workers were seen in high spirit working hard to deliver water to the people.
The project embarked upon by the state to urgently address the problem of water in the city was started around November 2012 and was completed in December 2013.
The state Commissioner for Water Resources, Engr. Adewale Adeoye explained that before the inception of Senator Abiola Ajimobi’s administration, the Asejire water works was either not producing at all or functioning far below installed capacity, hence the water for distribution was very low.
“But when we came in, we took it as our first priority to provide potable water for the good people of Oyo State, especially residents of Ibadan. The governor then mandated the Ministry to see what can be done to salvage the system and we thank God that from the 10 per cent production at that time, the production has been raised to over 80 per cent. So, now we generate about 251.2 million cubic metres of water from Asejire Waterworks for the people of Ibadan. During the same period, all the pumps were rehabilitated so as to avoid a breakdown during the production process. As we were doing this we also rehabilitated the laboratory where we test the water to ensure that it meets the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard. The laboratory has the best equipment, and many people do come from outside to do their analysis to ascertain their own water safety.
“All the other facilities have also been put to over 80 per cent production capacity, the only major challenge is this electricity issue and the administration is trying as much as possible to address this. We have met the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to give us a dedicated line so that we can produce enough water as we have no reason not to give water to the people. In addition to that we have standby generators but you know the cost of running diesel engine generators is very high. I will tell you that Asejire water is as good as what you find in Lagos, and Abuja”, the Commissioner said.
But unlike at Asejire, it is not all that rosy at the Eleyele Water Scheme which serves Eleyele, Ologuneru and environs.
The Dam, it was gathered is yet to recover from the extensive damaged it suffered during the August 26, 2011 flood disaster that wrecked havoc to one of its crucial component.
The Commissioner for Water Resources, Engr Adeoye , while responding to the inherent problems at the Eleyele Dam, the second largest water scheme in the state, said the facility has been producing water but “ there is still a lot of rehabilitation work to be done.”
“If you remember, the flood of August 26th 2011 affected Eleyele dam. So, what happened is that we are producing water at Eleyele for human consumption but due to the flood, we cannot produce as much as we could because of the extensive damage caused by the natural disaster.
But we were able to put some remedial measures to produce water at least to ensure that the people do not suffer much until the repair work is done.
“Even as urgent as the rehabilitation of Eleyele Dam is, what we have done is just the feasibility study. Some days ago, the African Development Bank (ADB) brought the revised design to implement the corrective measure, and we are now set to commence repair work there. Even at that Eleyele dam is producing water but like Asejire we also the challenge of stable power supply. The dam is to serve the people of Ologuneru and other areas but due to expanding nature of the city, we don’t have enough pipes to cover these other areas. But we are working around the clock to ensure they are served including the new settlements.
“We have other schemes like the one in Oyo, Erelu water scheme, the one in Ogbomoso, Saki and other parts of Oyo state. All these schemes are working to distribute water to the people in the other parts of the state but the power challenge is still there. Thank God that the government has a relationship with Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to give us a dedicated line to ensure that we have an uninterrupted water supply”.
Speaking on constant pipe burst and water waste in the city, Engr Adeoye said “we have pipe burst because most of them are old. Those pipes have been laid for the past 50 years. But immediately any pipe burst was reported, we get our men to the area to repair and lay new pipes because it is not ideal for people to scoop water from that place because the water could be contaminated. So we don’t encourage it. The government like I said earlier is trying to change some of these pipes, we want to prevent pipe burst because we lose water, it does not get to the consumer, so we are trying hard to replace some of the damaged pipes”.
The turnaround in the water supply and the huge investment made by the government to achieve it is not lost on the residents.
According to Mr Matthew Adesokan who lives at Itasaku area of Ibadan, the government has done well to restore public water supply in the city after several years of hardship. Adesokan, a retired teacher recalled the good old days when tap water was fairly regular in Ibadan, saying that it was the duty of every government to provide basic needs, including potable water to its citizenry and any government that failed to do that is definitely a failure.
“At that time we knew which day of the week to expect water from our taps. And it was a regular routine. Every week, we had water on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, four days in a week. And our wives used to fill our drums and other containers to store enough water to last till when the taps would run again. But suddenly, all that went away leaving the people to suffer. But, today the situation is gradually being restored and now we know that in a week, at least we do have tap water for two or three times/days. We thank our governor Ajimobi because he is trying his best to bring back the good old days again”, Adesokan said.
At Oje, Idi-Arere, Omitowoju, Inalende, Agodi, Mapo, Oke-Ado,Molete, Oke-Bola, Mokola , Challenge, Ring Road and some other parts of Ibadan the situation was not different as the taps are running.
It was indeed a great rejoicing for the people of the city as they witnessed renewed effort on the part of the government to tackle the incessant problem of water in the state.
But, not all have started benefiting from this massive government investment as some residents who live in newly developed areas still nurse the hope of getting tap water.
A 68 year old trader and resident of a suburb of Ologuneru, Deacon Samson Odiaka has meanwhile, pleaded with the government to extend pipe water to his area where a large population is springing up.
“We know that the government has not extended pipe to these new areas, the city is expanding fast, it is only the old areas that were piped. But help us tell the government to try and pipe these areas too, we are equally suffering from water” Deacon Odiaka who owns a building in the area pleaded.
