Okonta, Delta State commissioner for water resources
DELTA State Commissioner for Water Resources, Rt. Hon. Martins Okonta, has disclosed that the state government led by Sen (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa has so far spent a total of N344 million in its quest to give the people of the state clean, pure water and urged them to consume water from public water supply only.
According to him, safety of water from private bore holes cannot be compared to water from public water supply.
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“Most private boreholes do not have treatment plants; they don’t have quality control, they just put the boreholes, get water and start using it without treatment; but, the government or public water sector has treatment plants and when treated you will see the difference – there will be no colour, no taste and no odour.
“Water from the public sector has a lot of advantages because, they go through quality control, data control and they have treatment, unlike private boreholes that are usually sunk near soakaways pits, which amount to taking contaminated water into your system.
“I will not subscribe to drinking water from private boreholes, because they are not treated and the siting of the borehole are very close to soakaway pits and even when your own is not very close to soakaway pit, your neighbour sites his soakaway pit close to the borehole; so, water from private bore holes is not healthy for human consumption; government is doing its best to provide for the people,” the Commissioner who spoke in Asaba said.
He continued, “government has committed over N233 million into the Asaba Regional Water Scheme, while the Ughelli Regional Water Scheme has received N144 million.
In a bid to get water distributed to homes, the government has also constructed 5km water pipelines each in ten urban areas of Issele-Uku, Patani, Ogharefe, Ozoro, Kwale, Koko, Orerokpe, Burutu, Obiarukwu and Ogwashi-Uku.
“A lot of money have been committed in ensuring effective distribution of water in these urban areas; recall that the State House of Assembly passed the Delta State Water Bill into law on May 7, 2019 and apart from the fact that we have passed the Water Bill into law, we have also declared a state of emergency in the water sector in Delta State.”
