Экология. Экологические и метеорологические проблемы больших городов и промышленных зон.

I. E. Imiete, N.V. Alekseeva

Tambov State Technical University

PROBLEMS OF DRINKING WATER SUPPLY IN NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

The Niger Delta region is located in the southern part of Nigeria and is bordered to the south by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by Cameroun, occupies a surface area of about 112,110 square kilometres and is considered as the world’s third largest wetland [1]. In 2006, the population of the entire region was put at 21,044,081 million [2], with a strong yearly population growth rate.

In 1956, oil was discovered in Oloibiri after several years of unsuccessful exploration. The discovery of oil encouraged more exploration activities within the Niger Delta region. This has led to discoveries of large reserves of crude oil and gas in several parts of the region. Presently, the Nigerian state has been transformed into a petro state with crude oil and natural gas from the region accounting for over 85% export earnings. These contributions to the Nigerian economy from the regions natural resources have unfortunately translated into lack of infrastructures, portable water, jobs, electricity etc.

Besides crude oil and natural gas, solids minerals both found [3] and yet to be found have also enriched the natural resource base. In table 1, presently discovered solid minerals in the region are shown. As an old tradition, due to the lack of jobs, a larger percentage of the region’s population are engaged in subsistence farming and fishing activities while others are in small and medium scale businesses. Industries that are engaged in the exploitation of the regions natural resources account for a very meagre percentage of employment. Hence, individual financing of water projects are difficult to actualize because of the cost associated with it.

The delta is mostly a flat, low-lying swampy basin criss-crossed by a dense network of meandering rivers and creeks. There are four broad ecological zones in the region defined by both relief and hydrological characteristics. These are, from the coast inland, the coastal sandy barrier ridge zone, the mangrove swamp zone, the freshwater swamp zone and the lowland rainforest zone [4]. This terrain is always prone to flooding and sometimes proves difficult to effectively initiate and sustain long lasting water supply infrastructures. Only on conditions of constant monitoring and maintenance.

Table 1. Niger Delta states and their resources.

States	Solid Minerals	Agric./Agro Allied	Oil & Gas
Abia	Brine, Iron ore, Lignite, Kaolin, Clay	Cowpeas, Soybeans, Rice, Maize, Cassava, Oil Palm Cocoa, Rubber, Fruits.	Crude oil
Akwa Ibom	Clay, Glass, Sand, beutonite	Coconut, Cocoa, Rubber, Raffia palm, Coffee, Oil Palm	Crude oil and Natural gas
Bayelsa	-	Plantain, Banana, Cassava, Yam, cocoyam	Crude oil and natural gas
Cross rivers	Limestone, Baryte, Uranium, Bentonite	Rubber, Cocoa, Oil Palm, Cassava, rice, fruits	Crude oil and gas
Delta	Liqnite, Gypsum, Tar Sand, Silica	Palm oil, Kernel, Cassava, Rubber and Timber	Crude oil and natural gas
Edo	Gypsum, Tar sand, Lignite, Marble	Cassava, Yam, Gari, Plantain, Rubber	Oil and gas reserves
Imo	Limestone, Lead, Zinc, Ore, Kaolin, Clay	Oil palm, Cassava, Cashew	Oil reserves
Ondo	Bitumen, Limestone, Kaolin, Iron ore	Timber, Palm , produce Cocoa, Kolanut	Crude oil
Rivers	Silica, Sand, Clay	Palm oil, Fish, Cassava, Fruits	Crude oil and natural gas

DRINKING WATER SUPPLY

The population distribution and topography of the region gives more population concentration in the cities with several towns and communities located at no close proximity from each other. Some of these communities with high population are mostly disconnected, and in some areas, could only be accessible through seas and rivers. Without the possibility of being linked to existing water supply facilities elsewhere, which in most cases is not existent, they are left to survive on their own.

This development has pegged portable drinking water (in several places) more expensive than the natural resources within their domain, even with the abundant water reserves.

Large percent of the population is distributed along rivers and creeks, but these water bodies are constantly polluted by oil companies operating in the region. In turn, several oil spills have been denied by oil companies by citing sabotage. Activities of the citizens also compound the pollution problems. It is a common occurrence that people discharge their solid waste into nearby rivers and streams. This in part is due to the lack of effective waste management system and the government’s inaction in implementing environmental laws.

However, these polluted water sources are actually the water sources people mostly rely for drinking purposes.

The provision of water has been vested on the federal government, states government, local government areas and other agencies. Their responsibilities are detailed [5] in table 2. Besides the three-tier of government, there has been several support from international donor agencies but a good percentage of the region’s population are yet to feel the impact.

Table 2. Federalism and Water Service Delivery: Role and Responsibilities

The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, is responsible for:	The State Government, through relevant agencies like Water Supply Agencies, Water Boards, is responsible for:	The Local Government Councils are responsible for:
•Policy formulation, data collation, resources and demand surveys, and monitoring and evaluation • Coordination of water supply development and management • Research and development • National funding and technical support • The creation of an enabling environment for meaningful private sector participation	• Establishment, operation, quality control and maintenance of urban and semi-urban water supply systems. • Licensing and monitoring of private water supply • Monitoring of the quality of water supply to the public •Provision of technical assistance to local governments	• Establishment, operation and maintenance of rural water supply schemes in conjunction with the beneficiary communities. • Establishment, equipment and funding of the Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) departments

This is largely due to uncompleted or abandoned water supply projects, and projects that have been left unmaintained or collapsed totally. The usual phrase of “common water” which expresses the unavailability of portable water has left the people with distrust having considered the large deposits of natural resources that have been exploited to run the economy of the country without providing clean water in return.

For communities that are host to oil producing companies, the concept of corporate social responsibility has vaguely been used to describe rare cases of a company providing borehole water acclaimed to be taped right from the water table. But with time, the water sources have been left unmonitored to ascertain if there is consistent compliance with quality water standard. Some of these facilities were made available several years ago with several metal components that are already corroding. In several cases, these issues have caused social unrest with citizens demanding companies operating in their regions to stop their activities or quit. But the companies have always maintained that they pay taxes to the federal government and at such, the people should hold the government responsible. Irrespective of why and who should be blame, there has not been any solution in sight to the problem of clean water.

WATER SOURCES AND BUDGETS FOR WATER PROVISION.

The Niger Delta region is bordered to the south by the Atlantic Ocean and has an extensive network of rivers and creeks. Salt and brackish waters are common. However, underground water which in several parts are fresh have often witness increase in salt content. This has led to abandonment of several boreholes due to salt water intrusion [6]. Surface fresh water from rivers and streams are also rarely pure without chemical and biological contamination.

Having found itself surrounded with salt/brackish water sources and fresh but mostly contaminated water, the amount of money allotted for water provision seems to nurture more confusion as to how the money has been managed. This is as a result of yearly budgets with financial provisions made available from the three-tiers of government.

Table 3 shows the amount in naira allotted to water and water related projects in 2012 and 2013 budget of some Niger Delta states [7, 8]. This eventually excludes the amount from the federation budget, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), foreign loan (acquired by states government to finance projects that were not captured in the budget), donor agencies etc. This is meant for capital projects. However, as reported by the Citizens Report on State and Local Government Budgets in the Niger Delta [8], some of these projects were never financed. In the years to come, money will continue to be appropriated to water and water related projects.

Table 3. Capital budget in some Niger Delta states.

Item/year			States
			Akwa ibom	Bayelsa	Delta	Edo	Rivers
Total budget		2012	522,000,000,000	255,600,000,000	437,200,000,000	159,400,000,000	438,000,000,000
		2013	540,000,000,000	285,930,000,000	472,000,000,000	149,400,000,000	490,320,000,000
Water supply		2012	2,500,000,000 (urban)	2,000,000,000
		2013	1,500,000,000	4,100,000,000
Rural Water and sanitation		2012				100,500,000
		2013				0
Water resources	2012				4,486,374,846	695,000,000
	2013				5,830,525,200	1,040,000,000

Presently, the drop in oil prices has impacted negatively on the economy of Nigeria. Several states solely depending on federal financial allocations have seen their sources of income reduced to almost half. As it has been existent, some state government run governance by paying salaries and wages with complaints of not having strong financial base to execute projects.

As the population continue to grow, the gap in water deficit continue to widen. It is now evident that in the near future, there is no hope of closing the deficit in portable water supply coupled with the fall in oil prices. From table 4 [9] (with adjustment) on deficit figures, the study has demonstrated that for the period the studies were conducted, never was a 50% portable water demand had been met. The situation has raised a new coined word of “portable water poverty”.

Table 4. Public water supply status

Year	Daily demand per household (m^3)	Daily supply per household (m^3)	Population served	Deficit	Per capita per day (liters)
2001	233,794	90,005.5	13,742	143,788.5	109
2002	988,829,28	119,846.07	14,819	864,983.21	134.8
2003	588,340.8	141,531.7	10,488	446,809.1	224.8
2004	3,549,322.8	136,630.29	18.984	3,412,692.51	120
2005	1,180,458	140,593.03	18,291	1,043,869.97	128
2006	1,180,537.2	94,435.83	18,422	1,086,101,37	85

People cannot live without water, hence the Niger Delta people survives with all sorts of water readily available. Citizens who live in the urban areas and live in proximity to portable water facilities are keen to know when water would be supplied as most time there is no water. This problem is partly blamed on electricity. There are also water vendors who holds large share in the water market but without constant monitoring by the government to ascertain if their water quality meets the drinking standard. Boreholes, well (both protected and unprotected), streams /rivers and rain water are also most dependent means of water supply.

The present outcry on environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region is an issue worth considering. The federal government has failed to stop gas flaring by multinational companies operating in the region. All the combustion products are released into the atmosphere which during the rainy season, people harvest the rain water with its acidic content. The effect is not only felt by human beings but also its agricultural products. In 2011, the people of Abua in Abua/Odual local government area of rivers state lodged serious complains when the gas flaring activities of an oil company led to almost the disappearance of a popular food staple “cocondia” (cocoyam), and corrosion of house roofing metallic sheets

As with surface water and underground water, the people of Ogoni in the Niger Delta suffered from several years of oil pollution which led the United Nations Environmental Pollution (UNEP) to recommend comprehensive cleanup after an assessment of its environment [10].Some water samples both from dug wells and surface water were found to contain heavy metals and crude oil components. Unfortunately, as of the time of this research, the clean-up has not been done.

WATER RELATED AILMENTS.

The region is a low lying plane and is always prone to flooding. In 2012 the region witnessed a heavy flooding that left millions of people homeless. When the flood waned, people returned and continued their usual life. The post flooding era were marked with lots of water borne diseases. The floods destroyed several underground septic tanks, affected underground and surface water sources.

Data’s on disease outbreak are difficult to ascertain as several citizens rely on traditional method of treatment. Several people die from water related illness without the knowledge of the government. Cases of water borne diseases obtained from the public health unit of the ministry of health in Calabar (Cross river state) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom state) [9] are presented in table 5. Perhaps, these were patients that visited government health facilities which might actually be a small fraction of those that never visited.

Table 5. Cases of water borne diseases (2000-2006).

Disease	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Typhoid	2501	2501	2814	2810	3107	2408	2735
Dysentery	715	334	528	1325	1317	591	631
Cholera	20	18	35	45	53	71	17
Guinea worm	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Diarrhea	3113	2175	3251	3121	3152	2915	2935
Total	6349						6208

Several disease causing microbes are associated with oil pollution. On the process of trying to digest spilled petroleum products, they end up adapting to the environment. As shown by Nduka and Orisakwe, 2011 [11], there were detections of considerable amount of bacteria’s count in selected water samples of Niger Delta. What then is the hope of people living in these areas?

CONCLUSIONS

Ranging from environmental pollution, lack of portable water supply and infrastructures, it is difficult to assume that both the federal, state and local government are short of ideas on what to do. There are several recommendations that are left unimplemented. But the most important among all is to stop the ongoing environmental pollution and educate the citizens on its role to preserving the environment and water resources. Due to lack of stable electricity, solar technologies are highly recommended to be made integral part of water supply facilities.

References

1. http://www.nddc.gov.ng/NDRMP%20Chapter%201.pdf

2. National Population Commission: ''Population Distribution – Priority Table. Vol. 3, 2010.

3. Adesopo, A.A. and Asaju, A.S. “Natural Resource Distribution, Agitation for Resource Control Right and Practice of Federalism in Nigeria”. J. Hum. Ecol., 15(4): 277-289 (2004)

4. UNDP. ‘’Niger Delta Human Development Report’’. P 44-46 2006

5. Delta State Government. “Delta State Development Performance-Assessment Report. 1991-2013.

6. 2) Oteri, A.U., Atolagbe, F.P. “Salt Water Intrusion into Coastal Aquifers in Nigeria”. The Second Int. Conf. on Saltwater Intrusion and Aquifers-Monitoring, Modeling and Management. Mexico, 2003.

7. http://saction.org/books/Citizens_Report_2012.pdf

8. http://saction.org/books/Pardoning_Impunity.pdf

9. Ekong, F. Jacob, A. Ebong, S. “Water Resource Management in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: The role of Regional Planning.” Int. review of Social Sc and Humanities. Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 51-61, 2012.

10. UNEP. “Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.” 2011.

11. Nduka J.K and Orisakwe O.E (2011).Assessment of pollution profile of selected surface water in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Lambert Academic publishers, Germany