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Ebonyi is one state in the eastern Nigeria that lacks public water supply due to lack of attention by successive government in the provision of public water supply in the state. The young boy who revealed this said he thinks borehole and water from the well are the same thing as pump water. He has lived with the impression until he travelled to Abuja to discover the differences.
Boreholes and well are which has become a major source of water supply, are sunk to provide water for their families’ use and for sale within the neigbourhood. It is not out of place for a ten-year-old boy to who has lived his ten years’ life within Ebonyi state to mistake boreholes and wells to pump water.
The government of Elechi embarked on gigantic water project which was at a completion stage when he left office in 2015 as a governor. Unfortunately, his successor, Mr. Umahi, gave attention to the construction of multiple flyovers, making Ebonyi the only state in the southeast with the highest number of flyovers; abandoning the water project by predecessor.
Portable water is essential to a healthy life and Ebonyians can’t get it from boreholes and wells. It would be recalled that Ebonyi soil is filled with solid mineral deposits, such as limestone, lead, zinc and others. Though expert has not confirmed if Ebonyi soil, especially Abakaliki, the capital of the state, despite the solid mineral deposit, can produce portable water.
People rely on borehole water, wells and sachet water and bottle water, which is not for the low class that holds the greater percentage of Ebonyi population according to NBS ranking that put the state 3 poorest state in Nigeria.
Aside from the alleged health issue likely to arise from consuming borehole or water from the well, these sources of water contribute to environmental degradation. Waste disposal that arises from consumption of sachet water because of the careless method associated with disposing of the nylon used in packaging the water for sale to consumers, which has the potential to block the water drainages.
When a ten-year-old child that lives in Ebonyi claims borehole water is pump water, he is not wrong because he has never seen one. And the government does not care to make the children see it.
