“For the well-being, hygiene, and survival of humans, water is a necessity. However, the Kwaru community in the Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State in northwestern Nigeria has been deprived of this essential resource, along with electricity, which has become as rare as gold mines.
In this community, no one is exempt from the desperate need for water and electricity, which only the wealthy can afford to buy. Meanwhile, disadvantaged families line up to fetch water from a regulated solar-powered borehole that cannot meet the community’s demand, as darkness has since become the norm with no hope of restoration in sight.
But as life bites harder, the commuters plead for urgent government and non-governmental organizations’ intervention as their healthy lives dwell in danger.
Though Daily Episode observed that the community has a solar borehole, which the community sees as heaven, despite the uncertainty of getting water from the borehole due to high demand and its functional time, which hardly lasts more than two hours,
As gathered from the community, the solar borehole was constructed by Senator Uba Sani, now the governor of Kaduna State, with the aim of alleviating their water scarcity by constructing the community’s only solar borehole, but it is not enough as the situation worsens.
Residents plight
In an interview with Safiya Musa, a mother of six, reveals to Daily Episode the dire circumstances they face, lacking access to clean and hygienic toilets, drinking water, or water for cooking,
According to Safiya, water scarcity is our primary concern. The lack of water has severely impacted our livelihoods, as even the tap doesn’t flow these days. We can barely fill two or four jerry cans from this borehole, and sometimes we even have to queue for water at midnight, mostly from 12 to 3 a.m.
The lack of water in our community has negatively affected our children’s education significantly, the children whose workload is searching for water in nearby communities or the solar borehole we queue to get the water.
Aside from water, we have been without electricity for approximately three months, though water is our most pressing need, and we are in urgent need of support and intervention to address the water scarcity issue.
However, carrying water on our heads for long distances poses a danger to our lives, which also plays a significant role in preventing our children from attending school due to health hazards and low memory. She continued
While disclosing the health complications being experienced in the community, Safiya narrated that cholera, malaria, typhoid, and other infectious diseases threatened their lives and well-being.
I can boldly tell you that “on the issue of hygiene, we are striving because we barely get water to sanitize our toilets, cook, or perform personal sanity. She claimed
According to her, so long as they have gotten water to perform ablution for prayers, cooking, and bathing their children, then everything ends as nothing is considered for sanitation purposes as the lack of water intensifies.
However, some of us try our best to maintain cleanliness, but others are less diligent, resulting in unsanitary conditions that pose risks of disease and virus contamination. She maintains
Therefore, we implore the government to alleviate our suffering by providing water to our community. Even if a tap cannot be installed, we plead for the construction of a borehole, as an adequate water supply will significantly improve our lives.
Similarly, Ramalan Bello laments the insufficient water supply from the Kaduna State Water Services Regulatory Commission, as dirty water has become commonplace in recent times.
According to him, the Kwaru community has grown accustomed to water scarcity, which has become a part of our daily lives. For a long time, we had to go to a nearby community (Unguwan Dosa) before getting water to use.
Suddenly, we were fortunate to have a solar borehole, but it only exacerbated the problem by depleting our wells due to the unavailability of tap water. The borehole now only provides water for two hours. If you miss that window, your only options are to seek help from neighbours or go without water.
Recently, the member representing Kaduna North Consistency, Bello El-rufai, paid for the repair and service of our waterline with a promise of constant water supply, but when the tap water flows, it is infested with termites, is dirty, and has a foul odour, rendering it unsuitable for use and posing health risks.
Despite the water is unsuitable for use, the Kwaru community has returned to the days of thirst, as the tap has since stopped functioning, which we hope will not be a campaign strategy that will lead to more water scarcity for four years.
As our hope for clean water and access to it rises and falls, we earnestly plead with the authorities to address the issues with our water system and resolve the problems with our electricity service.
We have been facing these challenges with electricity for about three to four months now, which we are struggling to cope with. Hence, we strongly believe these problems are solvable, and our immediate concern is the urgent need for water. He added.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Sani, another resident whose livelihood is affected by the severe water and electricity scarcity, calls for immediate government intervention to ensure a healthy living environment.
According to him, water scarcity is our major concern, and we have been grappling with this issue for the past eight years. If it had not rained yesterday, you would have witnessed over 150–200 people from various angles and communities queuing to get water.
Things were not like this before because we had a constant water supply, but the issue is beyond imagination now as everyone must struggle to get water by all means or else someone will bear the consequences.
We are pleading with the government to restore the tap system because the majority of the houses in this community have water system wiring in which only the water to flow for use becomes an issue”. He said.
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