Not a few communities in Jos, the Plateau State capital, have expressed worries over the persistent water scarcity in their areas.
A cross section of the residents who spoke with Arewa PUNCH in Jos on Thursday said it was rather unfortunate that even those living within the city of Jos and environs also suffer access to potable water.
A resident of Rukuba Road in Jos North Local Government Area, Amos Gotep who was among those who lamented the situation said that every morning, he had to walk about two kilometres to get water from a neighboring Rock Haven community.
It is from there that he said he scouts around for water every day to provide for himself and his family.
According to him, he and other members of his family do not have access to fresh water, and using the contaminated one they have will only adversely affect their health.
“We in Rukubas Road in Jos have endured so many terrible years of water scarcity. The problem has been there for more than 15 years, but that of this year is worse”
Continuing, he asked, “Do you know that most residents still carry jerry cans every day looking for where to buy water despite the rainy season. We used to look up to the rainy season to cushion the effect but because this year has experienced less rainfall, that’s why the plight of the people has become even worse as if we are still in dry season.
“Regrettably, every administration has always promised to come to our rescue, but each has ended without fulfilling their promise. We hope that the present government led by Caleb Mutfwang will be different because we really want the government to assist us because the problem has lingered for too long.”
Another resident in Angwa Rogo Community, in Jos North LGA, Ibrahim Muhammad who also lamented the situation pointed out at other areas equally suffering from the state’s worsening acute water scarcity to include – Rock Haven, Farina Gada, Tudun Wada, Mista Ali among others.
Abubakar further remarked that a situation whereby the citizens in the affected communities spend quality manhour in the search for drinkable water is pathetic.
He pleaded with Arewa PUNCH “to extend the message so that the state government and other relevant stakeholders can take actions on conservation of ground water resources especially the indiscriminate drilling of boreholes because of it’s negative consequences in the lives of the people.”
When Arewa PUNCH contacted the Jos Water Corporation Services a very senior staff of thd Corporation who does not want his name on print becsuse “I am not the PRO, but only answering to your comment because I’ma part of the system,” informed our correspondent that, “the government is aware of the water challenges being faced by the people defending that everything is being done to address the problem.”
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Corporation, JK Chris, who also spoke with our correspondent notèd, “Yes, we have challenges, but some of these communities still get water from time to time. We also discovered that most people are connected to the water board, and if that is the case, there is no how those people will get water.
“We know that there are areas that are having problems. They don’t have network service, and they don’t have pipes that can link them to water pipes.
“So, we are working to expand the network in the affected communities and also procure pipes that will link them. In the case of Rukuba road and other communities that have no water, we have done our survey and discovered that we can give them water from our reservoir in Wildlife park but we need to acquire the pipes and other materials and sometimes, getting them takes some time like three to six months before they are proccured.
“But we have forwarded our plans and we are expecting approval but I can assure you that before long, the water scarcity challenge in Jos and other parts of the state will be a thing of the past,”