AYODELE ADEGBUYI writes that despite heavy downpour for three consecutive times this year, residents of Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State have been groaning due to lack of portable water.
Many residents trav­els several kilome­ters to fetch water. Residents living near the Speaker house at Oke Orio­mi beside old Governor Of­fice troop to the speaker’s house to fetch water from the pomp provided outside the fence of his house.
The traditional wells that people depend on have since dried up. Few residents who could afford borehole reluc­tantly come to the rescue of the people around them who throng those places to fetch water that has become the most sought after in the state capital.
The Ureje Dam in the cap­ital could only serve insignif­icant portion of the populace and the Government House as well as offices.
The ensuing consequences of the foregoing develop­ment are, among others, crippling business activities that require adequate water supply, groaning from an­gry and frustrated residents whose endless search for wa­ter continue to end in futility.
Many restaurants oper­ating in Ado-Ekiti, espe­cially those at Okeyinmi and Mattew of the city, ar­eas which are considered as business hubs of the capital city suffered greater disad­vantages even though they are close to the Dam in the state capital.
An owner of one of the most patronised restau­rants in the state capital, who spoke on condition of anonymous “Many of us who have business of res­taurants, sell drinks, pepper soups and fishes and other businesses that require daily supply of water usually have challenges of scarcity of wa­ter during the dry season. This is because at this time, the wells in Ado-Ekiti and other adjourning towns usu­ally dry up.
“There are no boreholes in these areas and the few pipe borne water systems provid­ed by the government cannot cater for the high population of people living in the state capital and needing water for survival. The dry season starts from early December of a particular year and last till April of the succeeding year.
“We want to urge the gov­ernment to build more bore­holes for us in Ado-Ekiti, especially for areas where we do business. We would not mind to pay to get water from these boreholes as we know it is expensive to con­struct boreholes this way, the government can solve the perennial problem of scar­city of water in the state. “
Mrs. Titilayo Aduloju is a resident of Oke-ila street in Idolofin community in Ekiti, she relayed the agony an average resident in the state goes through to get wa­ter during the dry season, in spite of the few public water system in some communi­ties in the state.
She said, “We thank the government for doing this water facility for us in Idolo­fin community. But we want to urge the government to kindly do the something for our neighbours in Omi-Ol­ori community. Most times, they have to trek almost a kilometer to this community to fetch from this public tap because they don’t have one.
“That is why this place is almost very crowded as you have seen. Many of the wells we have in this community and even in Ekiti runs dry during the raining season; that is why we usually have scarcity of water at this pe­riod.
“The public water in the neighbourhood cannot serve everyone at a time. It doesn’t also flow everyday but comes once in a week. So, it is usual­ly crowded whenever it flows even when the tap water runs, it doesn’t run for long. It only runs for two or three hours in a week. That way, it doesn’t cater for a quarter of the people of the area before it stopped running.” - The Authority