NAN-ND-4
Water
Calabar, April 9, 2017 (NAN) Some residents of Calabar have expressed worry over the lack of pipe borne water in the city in recent months, saying that they have resorted to boreholes as an alternative.
The residents expressed their concern over the situation in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the Cross River capital on Sunday.
They told NAN that they were more worried about the health implications of drinking water from boreholes now dug indiscriminately in all the nooks and crannies of the city.
They called on the Cross River Water Board Limited to restore the supply of pipe borne water in the city without delay.
Mrs Elizabeth Archibong, who owns a restaurant in the city, said the prolonged pipe borne water scarcity in Calabar was worrisome, describing it as strange.
She said: “ For over 10 years now, Calabar has not witnessed water scarcity for such a long period and it appears nothing is being done to about it.
“Now I had to employ someone to fetch water for me from boreholes to be able to run my business.”
Mr Essien Udoh, a retired civil servant residing in Parliamentary area of the city, told NAN that taps in the area had been dry for over two months now.
“It is well over two months that we had pipe borne water last and it is a terrible situation. We have not experienced this kind of situation in Calabar for quite a long time now,” he said.
Udoh said that most of the residents had now been compelled to fetch water from private boreholes but expressed fears over the safety of water from such a source.
According to Mr Edem Ekpenyong, sinking of private boreholes has become the order of the day in Calabar.
“Calabar has actually changed. Some people now sink boreholes anyhow in their premises. Everywhere you turn to now you see people carrying jerry cans in search of water.
“This is not the Calabar that we were used to,” he said.
But when contacted on the development, Mr Emmanuel Orok, the Director in charge of Public Relations in the state water board, attributed the situation to lack of power supply.
Orok said the blackout had been on in the last four months.
“Some of the problem we have are natural, but we have started pumping water and very soon the situation will normalise,” he added. (NAN)
BEN/EMO/OJO
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(Edited by Ejike Obeta/Mufutau Ojo)