While only a few of them get water from potable water sources at the 9th Mile area of the state, others get water from dirty streams and trenches, including the New Artisan Market and the Monarch area of the state. Some of them work for months before they wash their tanks. Others hardly do.
Unsafe water has severe implications for human health. According to the UNESCO 2021 World Water Development Report, about 829,000 people die each year from diarrhea caused by unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and hand washing hygiene, including nearly 300,000 children under the age of five, representing 5.3% of all deaths in this age group.
More than two million people worldwide die each year from diarrhoeal diseases, with poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water being the leading cause of nearly 90% of deaths and affecting children the most (United Nations, 2016). More than 50 kinds of diseases are caused by poor drinking water quality, and 80% of diseases and 50% of child deaths are related to poor drinking water quality in the world. However, water pollution causes diarrhea, skin diseases, malnutrition, and even cancer, and other diseases related to water pollution.
The government, through its secretary, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, on March 20, expressed dismay that many tanker drivers brought water from anywhere and sold it to the residents as drinking water. The government issued a strain warning to tanker drivers over failure to colour coat their water tankers to indicate they're carrying clean, safe, drinking water or industrial water, in line with the Enugu State water sector law of 2023.
One of the primary responsibilities of any government is to protect the well-being and provision of security to her citizens. This is why the Enugu State Government, under the leadership of Dr. Peter Mbah is fighting tough to protect Enugu residents against tanker drivers who are questionable and dubious in their operations; those who fetch poisonous and unclean water from unhealthy environments and sell to residents as safe drinking water.
The water sector law has prescribed that every water tanker must bear either a sky-blue colour to reflect clean drinking water or a yellow colour coating to reflect industrial water. Furthermore, this will save the people of Enugu from future endemic diseases that are caused by unsafe drinking water and also bring an end to the inhumane act by those who sell industrial water fetched from streams as borehole water from the 9th Mile Corner to the innocent people of the state.
It is a conspicuous fact that Governor Peter Mbah is committed to ensure every community in the state is connected to the ongoing safe water reticulation, this effort is to ensure potable water gets to communities in Enugu metropolis that were not originally connected to the state water reservoir. The Governor is working round the clock for its actualisation. The government is ensuring the old pipes installed in the First Republic are replaced so that water can get to the last mile.
While this effort has been taken by the government of the day, water tankers drivers should not continue their fraudulent, abominable, and atrocious act of service to our people by selling water fetched from dirty streams to ndi Enugu in the name of potable water.
The Enugu State Ministry of Water Resources has given water tanker drivers an April 30 deadline to paint their tankers with the government-approved colours. In an effort to protect the state residents against water-borne diseases and ensure effective distribution of potable water to the residents, it is sacrosanct that water tanker drivers follow the government directive and eschew any form of blackmail against the government as enforcement will begin May 1st 2024.
Nnamani, a political analyst a social commentator writes from Enugu
