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Shekarau’s desperate effort to water Kano

From Salihu Othman Isah

Kano being a cosmopolitan state has daily welcomed an influx of new migrants. This has been the tradition over time dating back over a thousand years due to its commercial status. Presently, Kano is the most populous state in Nigeria as contained in the outcome of the 2006 national headcount released by the National Population Commission (NPC). This rapid growth rate expectantly affects public utilities of the state, and this obviously includes the water consumption rate.

Water is desirability for all living creatures. Its usefulness is multi-faceted and it includes drinking, cooking, washing, crop nurturing and various sundry needs such as bathing and medical purposes. But it has remained implicitly a Herculean task to meet the water requirement of any community or society, especially in sub-Saharan Africa .

In most cases however, in the African continent, water abound everywhere in form of ocean, rivers, lagoons, streams, rivulets, ponds tube-wells and man-made dams etc; but treated and consumable water is scarce hence it is a common phrase in this clime to the effect that there is, ‘Water, water everywhere, but not a single drop to drink’. So, what most leadership in the continent and other developing countries which suffer shortfall of drinkable water try to do is to ensure that a larger portion of its populace get access to portable water as it is a tall dream to meet the total consumption needs of the people.

It is common knowledge that Nigeria is covered with natural water. In fact, as it is globally, over seventy percent of its landmass is covered with raw water which indeed necessitated the above phrase. However, Kano state under the current administration has in its determined effort however positioned Kano as one of the leader in the provision of portable water amongst the comity of Nigerian states, inspite of its dried landscape.

Since the inauguration of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau to take charge of the proceedings in Kano state in 2003, he has exhibited great passion and the desire to water Kano households and communities; especially the metropolis which is hugely populated; and is ever growing. Suffice it that this desire has even led him to a state of restlessness and desperation, albeit positively, a situation that has encouraged him to appoint his deputy, Engineer Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammed Gwarzo as the Commissioner to take charge of water resources in the state. He is a first class product in engineering and has very useful credential and purposeful antecedence in the area of impacting positively on the people. Shekarau may have also appointed him with a view to constantly put the water situation in the state under close and gubernatorial supervision and scrutiny.

To recall, before the introduction of the 150 million litres per day new Tamburawa Water Treatment Plant which foundation was laid on Tuesday 13^th December, 2005, all the existing water works cumulatively provided less than 230 million litres. Besides, some of the water works are very old and dilapidated, with the First Challawa Water Plant as old as a whooping eighty years or thereabout as it stands today. As a result of this, the pipes are rusty and water facilities there are almost disused and unserviceable.

Before this piece deviates to the present government’s conscious and proactive approach to solving the water problem of the state, it will first offer a brief history of the existing water installations in the ancient pyramid state and in their ancient condition before the new revolution to change the ugly situation.

As mentioned earlier, the First Challawa Water Works which is of conventional type had its construction started in 1928. The project which was embarked upon during the reign of Sarki Alhaji was completed and commissioned in 1932 when water first flowed from the pumps in Kano . The source of its raw water was at that time from Challawa River , but today it draws from Kano River and has a capacity to provide 20 million litres of water per day.

The second water project to see the light of the day in Kano was the Second Challawa water Works which is also conventional type. Construction work began in 1970 and commissioned in 1972, which is precisely 40 years after the first water installation in the state. The design capacity for this project initially was 90 million litres per day, but it was later upgraded to 110 million litres through direct of execution. It source of raw water is Kano and Challawa Rivers till present day.

A conventional Third Challawa Water Works, another conventional type had it foundation laying in 1982, and was only partially commissioned in 1990. it had improvement work carried out on it at the end of 2003 to attain its ninety million litres capacity. Today, it is still operational like the others and draws its raw water from Kano River .

The old Tambarawa Water Treatment Plant was constructed in 1984 and commissioned a year later. The 9.6 million litres per day water generated from it comes from tube wells on Challawa River downstream of the bridge. It is also still in operation. But as a government determined to provide water for its residents, the Shekarau administration confronted the scarcity of water with a propensity never imagined in the state. The 5.6 billion Naira second Tamburawa Water Works which was inaugurated in 2005, is today a reality. It has been test-run and found suitable to meet the 150 million litres per day capacity. What is required to be done is a little more fitting here and there and it would be fully operational and it is envisaged that the water problem of Kano residents, especially in metropolitan areas will be a thing of the past.

However, like every good thing which is bound to have hiccups here and there before stability is attained, the Kano government’s intention of finding solutions to the problem is not devoid of its obstacles, especially the erratic power supply. It was some of these problems the deputy governor highlighted to newsmen days back in his capacity as the water resources commissioner.

Recalling the situation of the water works before his appointment as commissioner in charge of water resources, Engineer Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammed Gwarzo who observed that the problem of water scarcity is a global phenomenon, disclosed that “the situation of most of the regional water works of the state when I took over as the State Commissioner of Water Resources, was pathetic. A number of them were in a state of disrepair. Immediately, an inspection tour of all the water works was embarked upon with a view to ascertain the problems bedeviling the operational capacity of the schemes. It was discovered that all the water works have been operating below capacity some were even grounded due to either dilapidated machines or lack of generating sets, which is the only source of power to move the engines, some were even abandoned for many years without functioning for lack of equipment.

Such affected regional water works included Gari in Kunchi local government, which provided water for Kunchi, Makoda and Danbatta, Tomas and Tiga/Tiga Regional Water Works were completely grounded. Having inspected all the water works and stockpiled all the problems facing them and tabled my request before the State Executive Council for approval, these were unanimously approved by the Council”, he added that this encouraged his ministry to embark on redemption mission as pledged during his inspection tour.

Engineer Gwarzo pointed out that in a bid to address the myriad of problems bedeviling all the water works; his ministry had no option than to confront the issue with iron fist. According to him, all the 13 regional water works have been provided with brand new generating sets to complement the existing ones at the cost of 136 million Naira, while Gari, Magaga, Jada, Tiga/Tiga and Tomas Water Works were completely rehabilitated.

“Again, the need for community participation in running these water works was realized and that motivated the formation of Regional Water Works management Committees with members drawn from the catchment local government areas to oversee the operations of their respective water works. The affected local government councils have agreed to contribute substantial amount of money based on the percentage of their consumption for the procurement of diesel and general maintenance. In addition to that, 10 vehicles have been purchased at the total cost of N32 million and distributed to the committees for effective monitoring and easy movement of equipment to central workshop in time of repairs”.

The deputy governor equally related the present conditions of water supply in the state to the newsmen. He said all the regional water schemes have been reactivated and are presently functioning. According to the water commissioner, new generators have been provided by the Shekarau government to replace obsolete and broken down generating sets that litter the water schemes. He also added that management committees have been inaugurated for all the regional water works and they have started functioning. And for doubting Thomases, he informed that the success recorded so far is visible for all to see, assuring that water now runs in the tap in many local governments, expressing that the government has been able to achieve this much by incorporating people as stakeholders in the areas affecting them, because it believes in community participation in matters that affects them.

“Let me use this opportunity to thank all the local government chairmen of the 44 local governments for their commitments to their people through prompt payment of diesel funds and provision of additional generators in the water works where necessary”, he offered gratuitously.

In continuation of the determination to water Kano adequately, the government equally embarked on borehole based schemes. This scheme is expected to provide for those areas where water pipes have not been laid. So far about 22 hand pumps boreholes, 3 motorised and 3 solar system boreholes have been fabricated across the state at a total cost of 44. 7 million Naira.

Speaking specifically on the gigantic Tambuarawa new water treatment plant initiated by the present administration, Engineer Gwarzo disclosed that many areas now receive water and many more areas are to be supplied with water when Tamburawa plant becomes fully operational. “There are six high lift pumps; two are standby, while four are to operate. However, only one pump is now operating because of inadequate power supply. Three monitoring committees in the metropolitan local government have been constituted to enhance efficiency, productivity and coverage. Observing the need to have more community participation in the task of provision of portable drinking water, the Ministry has decided to form three committees and saddled with responsibility of ensuring smooth water production, distribution and technical/maintenance as they affect the water works (Challawa and Tamburawa), and they have already been inaugurated.

What more, baring any unforeseen circumstances that may hinder the genuine wish and commitment of the Governor Ibrahim Shekarau administration to see through its future plans, including the expansion of the Watari Water Works at the cost of one billion Naira as already provided for in the 2008 budget, Kano may begin to sing another phrase like: ‘Water, water everywhere because Shekarau struggled hard to achieve it’, in place of ‘Water, water everywhere, but not a single drop to drink’ who knows!. END