Underground spring that gives succour to Bulbula community

Late at night or in the early hours of the morning, women and children around Bulbula, a Hausa condensed community in Jos North Local Government Area, will line up empty buckets by the elevated platform of an old house. A child of not more than seven years will crawl through a broken platform of the […]

Late at night or in the early hours of the morning, women and children around Bulbula, a Hausa condensed community in Jos North Local Government Area, will line up empty buckets by the elevated platform of an old house. A child of not more than seven years will crawl through a broken platform of the house and into a chamber of not more than 40 inches deep. A cup in hand, the child scoops water that has collected in the chamber and pours it into a bucket. Cup by cup, buckets are filled up with the slightly cloudy water.

This has been the life in Plateau’s Bulbula community, where for over 50 years, residents have had to rely on the trickling water from what they guess is a large rock sleeping down below the community.

Even when the area was reticulated with water pipes for tap water from the State Water Board, labourers had relied solely on the seeping water from the underground spring while residents had alternated between the spring and water from the taps, which was oftentimes rationed.

For the people of Bulbula, the spring water was not only clean, it tasted good; and most importantly, it was constant. But in the last 12 to 15 years, the water pipes had worn out, and so, the people had fully returned to the familiar slowly seep beneath the rock, which is oftentimes supplemented by the activities of water vendors.

Babangida Umar Mohammed, 18, who works as an apprentice butcher, took a bucket and climbed down through the concrete circle top of an open well. A peep into it showed that it was actually another underground spring channel. The people had constructed a concrete top to make it look like a well and to serve as a safety measure in a community with a large number of children below the age of 10. Going down and carefully avoiding large rock edges, he settled at the bottom of the water hole and used the bucket to scoop water, then made his way back with a bucket half full.

“Everyone can go in; even little girls go in to fetch water from the hole. But we call it a well because it is built like a well, and during the rainy days it is filled to the brim, so all we have to do is stretch our buckets to fetch the water,” the 18- year-old boy said.

The actual source of the underground spring is unknown, but the people believe it has three major channels, one of which suddenly ceased during a road construction by community effort. The people had tried to connect pipes to the major source in an attempt to channel its flow to a different direction, but suddenly, the water ceased, forcing them to rely on the well and window-like chamber.

“Water from the other two channels, that is the well and the chamber, doesn’t cease, but you can’t get it in large quantity. The well accumulates faster, but for the chamber, people come around at midnight when the water must have accumulated to fetch.

“The water that once ceased was the main channel we used. The one that comes from the chamber was only used by labourers to wash their bodies after the day’s toil. The main channel that ceased was just adjacent to the chamber but underneath a very large rock. Since then, we all had to move to the chamber,’’ Umar Yakubu Umar, the community leader said.

Bending through the small window-like chamber carved from the elevated platform, one could easily see the crack from the rock where water trickles down and accumulates in a smooth rocky surface. But there were litters in the chamber as children often go in there with their shoes or dirty legs; therefore, the chances that the water could be contaminated by the environment is high.

“The spring precedes the house. The water has been there for over 50 years. The owner of the house had built on the water outlet, but the pressure of the water broke part of the building to create the window-like compartment. Water will always find its way, you know,” the community leader added.

Although the actual source of the water is not certain, Umar, however, explained that the entire community was built on a very large rock, which explains why all attempts at drilling boreholes or wells in the past failed.

Fifty years ago, Bulbula was called Nasarawan Macize (Nasarawa of snakes) because it was a forest and home to numerous snakes. However, as people began to settle and expand the community, the water source was discovered and the community was renamed Bulbula (spring).”

Ibrahim Agani, 77, who relocated to Bulbula from Gangare in Jos North about 50 years ago, said he met the spring seeping out water underneath the rock. “The water is excellent for drinking in its natural form, without boiling it. Why do we need to purify water that is coming from the rock? Water that comes from the rock is good, but we let it settle so that sand particles that may have been collected settles down before we pour it into a drinking jar,” he said.

Agani explained that even when the community had tap water flowing through the pipes; it could not have been consumed without purification due to the visible presence of what he described as red warms, perhaps as a result of rusted pipes.

“I believe the water from the rock is ten times better, we have been drinking it and we are fine,” he said.

But Umar said that as a community leader, in his household the water is boiled before drinking. He said he often advised others to do same, adding, however, that it is impossible to ensure that everyone adheres to the advice.

“It is true that the Maianguwa has been advising us to boil the water, but for how long would we continue to boil it before drinking? Many of us believe the water is clean, and having drank it for many years, nothing has happened to us,’’ Agani said.

However, a medical doctor in public health, Catherine Igoh, told Daily Trust on Sunday that although spring water is generally considered to be pure, it depends on how it comes out of the earth.

“It is supposed to be pure, but if it is collected in a place where there is a lot of litter and domestic activities around, then the water is likely to be contaminated. And in that form, it can cause a variety of diseases, especially diarrhea, mostly among children. The children are the ones that are prone to drinking water straight from the source, and they are more prone to diseases,” she said.

Dr. Igoh advised that the water be treated, either through boiling or use of chlorine, such as water guard, so that the community doesn’t fall victim of diarrhea.

“They may filter the water, but it doesn’t kill the micro-organisms, the bacteria and viruses that cause the diseases will still be there even when they filter it. The effect of the disease is usually on children because their immunity is lower. Adults usually build immunity against diseases over time. They have antibodies in their systems that protect them against long term exposure to such contamination,” she said.

 

Failed promises and dashed hopes

It has been over 10 years since water stopped flowing from the taps in Bulbula and surrounding communities. However, it is said that since Governor Simon Bako Lalong assumed office, water started flowing in surrounding communities who are lucky to have pipes. The water is, however, rationed. But residents of Bulbula have continued to hope.

“We have written several letters that attracted humanitarian and development organisations. They came to survey the area and agreed to construct boreholes, but after the survey they said it was impossible due to the presence of a very large rock underneath the entire community,” the community leader said.

Jamila Ibrahim, a mother of four who lives in the community, told our correspondent that life is a constant struggle as children sometimes miss school in search of water.

“All we need is for someone to lay pipes in the community so that we can depend largely on tap water. We are not saying the taps have to be channeled to our homes, but they can be channeled to a central place where we can queue up to fetch,” she pleaded.

For now, children of all ages are sent out to fetch water from the spring at any given time of the day, and like Jamila, some send their children with as many as eight 25litre jerry-cans daily, mostly between 10pm or 1am.

“After many years of failed attempts, our only hope is the spring water. It has never disappointed us, but our population is increasing and not everyone can afford to buy water.

“You cannot drill a borehole, neither can you dig a well in this community. We know this because attempts have been made but they failed. All we need is for the government or any of our politicians to assist us by laying pipes for water to flow to our community,” Agani further said.

Indigenes of the community said their hope was lifted when the member representing Jos North/Bassa federal constituency, Suleiman Kwande, came into the matter and asked the Plateau State Water Board to do a survey and give him how much it would cost to reticulate the area.

“The Water Board gave us an estimate of N12 million, which we passed on to him; but since then, we have not heard from him. We are back to the beginning,” the community leader further said.

The Plateau State Water Board, which did the survey, confirmed that the community had approached them for technical advice and survey of the area, which they did and gave to them. The board’s general manager, Lambert Gomzuk, said though he could not remember the actual estimate made available to the community. He assured that the state government had plans to supply water to all the communities in the state.

Gomzuk, however said; “Because the hands of government are full, the speed to provide water to all communities may not be as desired, so the community can fast track the supply of water to themselves by getting the pipes pending when government can intervene.”

But the community leader, Umar, faulted Gomzuk’s position, saying, “It is true that the Water Board said if we could get pipes they would provide water for us, but how can we get the pipes? This is one community that has never benefitted from any government project. The community constructed the road and connected itself to electricity. Despite a large population, there is no police station, no school and no clinic. Then what is the essence of government if we have to do everything for ourselves?”

When our correspondent contacted Rep Suleiman Kwande, it was gathered that he had tried to intervene by constructing a borehole but hit a rock, presumably the one that runs under the entire community. He admitted to encouraging the community to get a survey of how water pipes could be reticulated, but said the survey and estimate never reached him personally.

“I have interest in that community and tried to construct boreholes, but they couldn’t find an appropriate place,” he said.

Kwande also promised to find out how the estimate got lost in transmission and said he would work with other stakeholders to assist the people.

Right now, for every minute that passes, there is a little girl or boy, cup in hand, crawling into the dark chamber of Bulbula in search of water. There are also teenagers going down the underground spring channels with buckets to scoop water from the rocks.