Some days ago, The Elisha Ajiboye-led Health committee carried out an exercise aimed at differentiating water tanks that are reservoirs for drinkable water from the ones that are not. The underlying reason for this exercise was to help Zikites, freshmen especially, navigate the differences between cholera-inducing water tanks from the ones that are safe for drinking.
However, this exercise might just have turned on its head, Zikites might need to brace up, brandish their Jaja cards, and be ready to use it, as we might have a breakout of cholera and other water-borne diseases on our hands soon, many thanks to Elisha and his team.
Nigeria, the elder
In the world today, that Nigeria is one of the countries that has unsafe and unclean water is a no-brainer, a claim that we do not need facts to back up; in fact, if the contrary is true, then we can as well say that numbers are more real than reality. I mean, what is not wrong with our 63 year-old man? The poor quality of water in Nigeria, sources say, is a result of uncoordinated efforts at the federal, state and local government level agencies.
According to a 2014 report in the Journal of Advancement in Medical and Life Sciences, about 90 million people are without access to safe drinking water, and about 130,000 children under the age of five die annually from preventable waterborne diseases as access to safe water supply has indeed become a nightmare in Nigeria.
In addition, UNICEF say that 70% of water at the point of consumption in the world is contaminated. The organization also conveyed that children are the most affected as 117, 000 children die each year in Nigeria from water-related diseases – the highest number in the world.
Given the low quality of drinking water in Nigeria, most Nigerians will usually contract a waterborne illness. Nevertheless, when pollutants find their way into drinking water sources and are not eliminated by water treatment processes, it can and does make people sick. This can be attributed to lack of sanitation system, pipe breaks, leaks, groundwater contamination, and campgrounds where human and wildlife use the same source of water.
Zik, the younger
The necessity of distinguishing water pumped in Zik from Awba Dam tanks is a perfect problem discovery, but as a quote says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, meaning that well-intentioned actions can have negative outcomes if not thoughtfully executed. With the manner in which the execution of the differences between clean and unclean tanks has been formatted, it would lead to even grave consequences that it has been positioned to solve.
First, what method of testing did the health minister use to determine them as drinkable? From observation, it seems that Elisha deemed all the water pumped in Zik drinkable. But is it the case that any kind of borehole is suitable for drinking?
Let’s start from the low-hanging fruits. The incompetence latent in the process is glaring when the D Block tanks were also deemed suitable for drinking. The same tanks whose water obviously contain sediment particles?
Sediment particles consist of various materials such as sand, silt, clay, minerals, or organic matter that have been eroded and carried by water into the borehole. They can make the water appear cloudy or discolored, affecting its taste and smell.
Apart from this, the D block borehole is surrounded by septic tanks maintaining close proximity to it. However, studies have shown that close proximity of septic tanks housing human feces to boreholes have been shown to cause microbial contamination as a result of the harmful microorganisms present in human feces, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, leading to various kinds of gastrointestinal diseases and other health issues.
When we say that Zik hall and UI at large is just a microcosm of the Nigerian society, that the problems of Nigeria is just a problem of Zik Hall writ small, such keenly thought-out proposition cannot be fallible — accommodation issues, improper health care, poorly planned policies, incompetent leadership and what have you.
This editorial would not end without Zik Press giving you a nugget of gold: if you do not want to extend your spirit of oneness, togetherness and brotherhood to Jaja in the long term, you might care enough to just help yourself to a N250 bag of Ale Dammy in the meantime, or you might just be drinking microbes every time, and you might just land in the hospital anytime.
