Chukwuma Oji, a resident of Ogui New Layout and teacher in one of the schools in the Enugu metropolis now goes to big hotels and banks every day to answer nature’s call because of unavailability of water in his neighbourhood to clean toilets in his apartment.

Oji now takes his bath once in three days because he could no longer afford N400 everyday to buy two bags of sachet water at N200 per bag for his daily bathing.

Indeed, water scarcity has been a major social problem in Enugu State, especially the Enugu metropolis, over the years.

According to Orji, for the past two months or thereabouts, the state water corporation has not supplied water to the area, adding that wells which he and other residents of the area rely on for alternative water supply have dried up because of the dry season the state is witnessing currently

In two weeks, we have had no water and since then I have been hoping that the tap will rush. Before, if there was no tap water, I used to buy water from a well for N15 to bathe and flush the toilet but wells have dried up and wells that have water, before it gets to your turn, you will spend about two to three hours to fetch a gallon or two. Now since last week, that well has not been opened for the public. It is now restricted to the owners because the water in the well has gone down drastically.”

Narrating how excruciating to source water for his domestic use, he said, “Now, other people that have well have increased the price of a gallon to N50 and the queue there equally is troubling, and before you know it after about 50 gallons have been fetched, it will finish and you won’t get water from it until the following day and if you didn’t get there before 5:30 am, you wouldn’t get water. Now I didn’t have a big tank that I could buy water from.

SOURCE:- Punch Ng