Water is life, but in Gwange it’s agent of death
Gwange ward is a large compactly populated area known with a long history of poor drainage network system. For ease of administration, it was partitioned into three wards – Gwange I, II and III. To solve the perennial flood situation, past governments in the late 70s and early 80s, devised a means to prevent annual […]
Gwange ward is a large compactly populated area known with a long history of poor drainage network system. For ease of administration, it was partitioned into three wards – Gwange I, II and III. To solve the perennial flood situation, past governments in the late 70s and early 80s, devised a means to prevent annual destruction to lives and property and the reoccurrence of water and air borne diseases by constructing underground central water-ways to serve as drains during heavy downpours. Drainages were constructed beside the roads and waterways were constructed beneath the roads before they were tarred, making it almost unnoticeable, except for the presence of strategically placed and neatly covered square shaped metal inlets that allow for sanitary officers and officials of the Ministry of Works to carry out regular or seasonal clearance of blocked portions for easy flow and final drain.
Investigations by our correspondents revealed that the underground water channels are now being converted by some residents in Gwange I ward to serve as household sewage waste channels. Rather than construct their own separate soak-aways to evacuate the raeces and urine wastes from their toilets, people now dig trenches from within their houses, bury sewage pipes which are positioned in a sloppy way underground, so that all faeces and urine passed out of their homes are channeled straight into the water ways. They then use chisels and other heavily pointed instruments to puncture holes on the concrete slabs which house the underground water drain to channel faeces and urine from their toilets directly into the underground water canals.
Kanem Trust investigations further shows that the central water way was specifically designed to channel and empty its contents into the artificial river which flows beneath the popular Lagos bridge earlier highlighted in a report titled: “A bridge where ritual killers, diseases beset Maiduguri kids,” in the Kanem Trust of May 30, 2010. Children, adolescents and some adults always swim in the ‘stream’, which our correspondents gathered has its source from waste water pumped out from Allo Dam in Kodunga Local Government. Apart from the kids who go there to swim, others also visit to wash their clothes, fetch water for other household chores and bath. Some of those sighted at the river said the cost of purchasing water from the water vendors is unbearable. Others simply feel they enjoy the chill of the water on their body.
Before the rains, the water in the artificial river is stagnant, filthy and greenish; and is mostly filled with animal and human faeces, from the sewage wastes emanating from the underground waterways which flow into the water body and the defecating done by ‘visitors’, including waste dumps with all sorts of items like polythene bags, sanitary pads, rags and all sorts of filthy materials stuck in the water.
During the rainy season, the filthy water, along with the rain water (which raises water volume), flows around various parts of the metropolis, as well as Jere, Mafa, Dikwa, Marte, Ngala and Kala Balge Local Government Areas, all of which are closely knit and are known to experience regular epidemic outbreaks.
Ali Alhaji Sanda Konduga, the ‘patriotic’ resident of the area who took the bull by the horn to expose the illegal conversion and channeling of household wastes by some residents into the underground water ways said in his petition that, “the illegal channeling is carried out in a sophisticated way. At nights, they use diggers, hammers, chisels amongst others, to break through the concrete slabs. They then channel sewage pipes from their homes underground directly through the holes created in the side concretes. The entire channeling is buried underground and is invisible. Whenever it rains, the faeces and urine in the sub water ways are flushed through and emptied into the river which passes through Lagos bridge.”
Konduga noted with concern, that the revelation of the practice should raise questions about regular outbreaks of diseases in northern Borno, along which the river flowing pattern is directed, as against less frequent reports of such in other parts, which do not have any contact with the direction of flow of this peculiar river.
Konduga is of the opinion that people found guilty should be punished to deter other would-be offenders because if they are only asked to disconnect their illegal channels, others would not hesitate to engage in such activities in future. “We need to have a permanent solution. Government must take stern measures to resolve the crisis. I appreciate the efforts of government and international organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO) in the campaign against polio eradication, but as long as unhygienic activities like this are allowed to continue in Borno State and such sewage find their way into the water used by the people, knowing that there is water shortage around and people use the Lagos bridge river for bathing, washing and carrying out other household chores, we will only be deceiving ourselves,” Konduga expressed sadness.
Tijjani Ahmed, another bold resident who stays on Waziri Musa Street near Gwange Fillin Faret, said they are challenging those engaged in the illegal acts because of its impending danger. He said that he has lived in the area for 48 years now and was there when the underground waterway was constructed over 25 years ago to solve the annual flood problem which they were experiencing then. “At the time, only a few people were living here. But as the population increased, people began to channel their toilet wastes into the underground drainage channel. At the beginning, just a few people got involved, but many others joined later. Whenever there is a heavy downpour, water from the surface drainage network is directed into the underground water way. The household wastes, either in their liquid or solid form that have been channeled into the underground drainage begins to find its way out through designated passages that were hitherto designed to allow in-flow into the underground drainage. Usually, the area becomes flooded and at such times, the odour is unbearable,” he said.
He said the practice has been on for some years, adding that the area has become renowned for its persistent outbreak of water and air borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, malaria, polio, amongst others. “Sincerely speaking, right now on my street, there are about 15 households that I know who channel their sewage wastes into the underground water way. This is minus those that I do not know. Government, whose responsibility it is to ensure the safety of lives and property of its citizenry, must do something urgently. Because if no urgent step is taken in this direction, the perpetrators of this unhygienic practice will continue to endanger the lives of many innocent people”, Ahmed lamented.
Other residents spoken to said the situation was less noticeable because the activity was usually carried out late in the night, more so that the underground water way was constructed below the tarred road after concrete slabs were placed atop. They revealed that the people just dug into the ground from their homes and position the pipe in a slant such that it creates an easy passage for the wastes into the underground drainage. According to them, the pipes are channeled into the concrete slabs after drilling through the side concrete, creating a free way into the large underground sumps.
The Ward Head of Gwange I, Alhaji Zanna Mohammed Mai Jir, told our correspondents that he first became aware of the unhygienic practice in April 2010 when a resident wrote a petition to the Borno State Ministry of Works and Transport. He said the petition was copied to the District Head who invited him to seek clarifications on the issue. “At first, when we set out to verify the accusations, we could not detect anything. Later, when the Ministry of Works came and undertook their exercise, some houses with such unhygienic and illegitimate sewage channels were discovered and they were given three weeks notice to desist from such acts and instructed to provide independent soak-ways for the various households. During our subsequent meeting with the District Head, I said three weeks was too long regarding the nature of the problem at hand. I gave them two weeks instead. The notice has expired and at the time I checked, some of them were already digging their soak-ways and I believe by now, they would have completed them,” he maintained.
According to Baba Sale Goni, the Environmental Health Officer of the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA) in charge of Gwange Ward, they too only detected the illegal activities after it was reported by the ‘good’ Samaritan. “We have gone to inspect the identified locations and verified the claims after many trials. It was difficult to discover because it is always concealed and cannot be detected easily. We have served a lot of them with notice. Some of them have complied while others have refused. Three among those who have refused to comply have been charged to the Sanitation Court while the remaining ones will follow suit. For those whose cases are before the Court, they are to appear before the court on July 1, 2010,” he explained.
Ignorance of the impending danger could be deduced from the fast becoming norm because one of the culprits (names withheld) said he engaged in the act because it was less tedious and less costly to divert the wastes into the sub water way as against constructing a separate soak-away.
Some residents told Kanem Trust that the situation became worse because authorities no longer frequented the strategically located openings to undertake regular cleaning and clearance of the underground water passage. “The major reasons why people choose such unhygienic and illegal means to dispose their wastes is due to ignorance about the adverse effects and poverty. In all, it would cost anyone willing to carry out the illegal channeling less than N3, 000. This amount if compared to the huge amount that would be incurred to construct an independent soak-away is nothing at all. The cases have been reported to the Ward and District heads. But they do not have the authority to sanction these people. It is only government that can do that,” one of them noted.
In a letter with reference CCE/11/6113/vol.1, dated May 11, 2010 and addressed to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Gwange Police Station and signed by the Deputy Director, Civil Engineering Services in the state’s Ministry of Works and Transport, which is a reaction to the unauthorized alteration of roads and drainage network for use as soak-away in Gwange I, the government said the “matter is being attended to for appropriate government action”. The ministry also requested police protection for the ‘good’ Samaritan who reported the abuse of the infrastructure from people committing the act because the culprits have started threatening him.