Water shortage hits Katsina metropolis

Portable drinking water is fast eluding the people of Katsina especially within the state metropolis. They have long forgotten when last water comes down from their taps. Most residents have resorted to water vendors to meet their daily demands. A recent survey showed that portable water production by all the state water facilities is well […]

Portable drinking water is fast eluding the people of Katsina especially within the state metropolis. They have long forgotten when last water comes down from their taps. Most residents have resorted to water vendors to meet their daily demands.
A recent survey showed that portable water production by all the state water facilities is well below 50 percent of their installed capacity, that is, aside the increasing population of the state.
Water supply situation in the state has been worst since its creation as according to statistics from the water board the daily water requirement of the metropolis stood at 115,000 Million Cubic Metre (MCM) but only 50,000 MCM is been made available to the over four million residents.
To this end, many people have for long relied on water vendors from commercial boreholes. People spend substantial part of their earnings in buying water for their daily needs just as the few fortunate ones build commercial boreholes for their water supply and business purposes.
Some residents, who spoke to Kano Chronicle revealed that the water scarcity was not a new problem to them, they have been leaving with it for a very long time.
 Malam Umar Ahmed said it costs him N300 daily to buy water for his family, adding that water was a necessity that one must get as there was no alternative to it.
Bishir Aliyu, a resident of Sabuwar Unguwa said water was hard to get in their area as he buys water twice daily. According to him if one sums up the cost of buying water in a year it would amount to something very huge.
However for the commercial borehole operators and water vendors, the water scarcity was a blessing to them as they always smile to the banks.
A water truck pusher Sada Ibrahim said he sells an average of ten trucks during the hot season and while some of his customers pay as the water was delivered to them others pay him at the end of every month.
“Selling water is a flourishing and nice business but tasking and energy sapping as well. It doesn’t cost much to have a truck and jerry cans for the job,  it pays to supply water,” he said
Another water vendor Mazaje Musa said he earn an average of N30,000 every month from the trade giving the readymade customers he supplies water to on daily basis.
According to one of the state water board officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, it cost the board N36m monthly to supply water to the metropolis. He said the increase in population and new settlements across the city made it difficult for the board to supply water to all residents.
He said, the only source of water which in the state Ajiwa Dam, was too small for the city and there was the need for expansion to accommodate theexploding population of the city.
According to the report of the state committee on water supply headed by Alhaji Abdulaziz Mohammed, water supply to Katsina metropolis and other parts fall below ten percent of the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 300 liters per day per individual.
He said the ground water sources were estimated to be 30.3 MCM while the requirement was about 80 MCM which would increasing to 138 MCM by the year 2020 adding that there seemed to be inadequate ground water resources in comparison to the sustainable potential resources of 642MCM.
Disturbed by this trend, the state government has steped in to address the situation as about N2.5bn was set aside for the expansion and upgrading of the Ajiwa water works in the 2016 appropriation bill sent to the state assembly.
The state governor Aminu Masari promised to ensure adequate supply of water not only to the capital but the state at large.