FEATURE: Kaduna Community Where Residents Live Without Potable Water

Nobody will believe that residents of Karatudu, a community less than 15 km to Kaduna town, will be drinking from dug wells and streams, despite monies budgeted by the Kaduna State Government for the provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

In 2022 alone, the state earmarked N4.7bn for the provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene services in the state. Of the amount, about N258.1m was for the rehabilitation of 2,633 hand pump boreholes, N882.7m allocated for the implementation of Sustainable Urban-Rural Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene across the state while N575.7m was allocated for the construction and installation of 230
hand pump boreholes.

But Karatudu has obviously not benefitted from the government’s water projects. Almost every household owns a dug well in Karatudu, a community in the Chikun Local Government Area of the state. The wells, their main sources of water, have served the community for over 60 years.

A dug well, normally seen in rural areas in Nigeria, is a shallow, large-diameter, man-made pit or hole from which groundwater can be extracted.

Residents of Karatudu say that although they have endured the use of the well for years, they are no longer comfortable drawing water from the well as there have been recent unsavoury incidents in the community that now warrant the urgent installation of pipe-borne water or a borehole in the area.

Ishaku Adamu, the village head of the community, told THE WHISTLER that the only hand-pumping borehole that was constructed for the community by some missionaries in 2016, stopped working five years ago, leaving the community to fall back on the well water.

He noted that with a population of close to 10,000 people, even when the borehole was functioning, it was still not enough to cater for residents of the community.

Adamu also explained that the water from the well is usually not drinkable. He said the residents who could afford sachet water bought them for drinking, while those who could not, drank the water from the well.

But with the harsh economic situation of the country, the number of people who cannot afford sachet water is increasing.

“Many have resorted to drinking the well water without purifying it. They just allow the sediments to settle down before drinking it,” he said.

The village head stated that he was quite aware that the water could have adverse effects on the health of his people, but added that his people had no other option.

“There is this man that owns a borehole in our neighbouring community. Those who have the strength to travel long distances in search of water go there to get their drinking water,” he explained.

Adamu’s worry for his people is further aggravated by the fact that during the dry season, the wells dry up and the few wells that retain water are usually overstretched.

“In February and March, the wells are usually dried up. We would have
to look for nearby wells from which we can get water. The thing is that as you fetch the water, the owners of the well would continue to fuss about it because they don’t want you to exhaust their water and leave them with none to use. So, it is really a sad situation in this area,” he said.

The 48-year-old village head noted that the drying up of the wells has increased over the years, a result of which residents now take their washing to Romi River, a nearby river in the community.

“People go to the river to wash their clothes, rugs, and other things. Many of them take their bath there after washing,” Adamu explained.

But the river comes with its risk. The village head narrated how a 19-year-old boy drowned in the river while washing his clothes.

“He was there with four of his friends. The soap they were using to wash fell into the river, so they tried to retrieve it. He got caught in the waves of the river and was carried away. Four of them were rescued except him,” he said.

He added that all these incidents point to the fact that the community is in urgent need of pipe-borne water or a borehole. He cited neighbouring communities like Buwaya and Angwan Waziri which have pipe-borne water and wondered why his community would be neglected.

Adamu, who is a farmer, said he had written to the administration of Chikun Local Government Area, but that there has been no response yet.

“Three years ago, some people came in with pipes and started laying it just around Church Street. We asked who sent them and they said it was the Federal Government. They told us that the pipe was for water.

“We enquired from the local government and they said they didn’t know about it. After laying the pipe, we didn’t see any water. They only planted a signboard with no contact address,” he explained.

The community has only the signpost to remind them of the project and this has left the residents puzzled over what was initially intended for them.

In 2023, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) disclosed that about 133 million Nigerians, representing two-thirds of the country’s population, lacked access to potable water.

WaterAid, an international non-governmental organization that focuses on water, sanitation, and hygiene, explained that water scarcity, a persistent problem in Africa, has been made worse by climate change.

“Our changing climate is making life harder for the world’s poorest people who are already struggling to get clean water. The climate crisis is a water crisis – we must act fast,” it noted.

As the water crisis rages, women and children bear the brunt of this situation as they are responsible for fetching water, cooking, and carrying out other household chores. This leaves them with little or no time for other activities such as income generation and educational pursuits.

“This is what we are facing in this community,” Hanna Luka, a resident of the Karatudu, told THE WHISTLER.

Luka, who is a teacher in the area, stated that many of the children usually come to school late as they had to look for water before coming to school.

“Anytime they come late and you ask them why they are late, they will say that they had to fetch water before coming to school. It is more difficult in the dry season when the wells are dried up,” she explained.

While speaking on the effects of well water on their health, the 32-year-old mother of three stated that although the residents cannot tell such effects, they however worry about the possible long-term effects of the consumption of the water.

A medical doctor working under the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Tunji Adeolu said that drinking untreated well water is generally unsafe.

Adeolu explained that dug wells are shallow and can be contaminated by various sources including bacteria, viruses and chemicals.

“A well located near agricultural or industrial activities may be at risk of contamination from pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals. Also, if the well is not properly maintained, it may become contaminated with bacteria and other pathogens from the surrounding soil,” he said.

He urged the residents of the area to ensure that the well water they consume is purified through methods such as boiling, chlorination, or filtration.

THE WHISTLER contacted Richard Ligari, Councillor of Kakau under which the community falls, and he said that he was already constructing a solar borehole for the community.

” We started work in November last year at the back of Agric Quarters. We have laid the tank. It is remaining to procure the solar apparatus and install it. We will do that and it will start working soon,” he said.

However, the Village head who didn’t know about the project until the a reporter hinted it to him after talking to the Councillor, and said that the place the project was sited though in Karatudu was very far from the people that need the borehole.

“It will take one 45 minutes to get there on foot. I was not informed about the project. I would have told him the best place to site the borehole,” he stated.