Nigerians and Water: Not much of a happy relationship? (Part 2)

Last week, I outlined key physical factors shaping the water sector. In short, it appears that Nigeria is just the country to refute common perceptions on Water in Africa: The common prejudice that Sub-Saharan states chronically lack water (there is, technically spoken, a lot of water in many parts of Nigeria). And the perception that countries which experience plenty of rainfall and have numerous rivers and lakes are surely well fed (the math is not that easy, distribution and evapotranspiration - and management easily mess this assumption up). This blog post will examine significant anthropogenic factors and stakeholders in the arena of water management.

Let us start with a brief look at some figures: As mentioned earlier, the country is home to an extraordinarily large number of people – every fifth person in Sub-Sahara Africa lives in Nigeria.

Bearing in mind that reliable data is highly insufficient, a recently published World Bank report on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria found that 61% of the population has access to safe water while only 31% of Nigerians have access to safe water on premises. To clarify, safe or improved water is water which is properly protected from external contamination. Water on premises describes safe water which is available on individual grounds.  In urban areas just 7% of Nigerians have access to piped water, a number which has dropped significantly since the 1990s. Further, there is a large disparity between urban and rural areas with urban areas (through its improved infrastructure) benefitting from significantly higher rates of access (WorldBank, 2017). In short: 71 million Nigerians currently do not have access to safe water.

While improved sources support more people, piped water has decreased. Here, the lack of infrastructural modernization after the independence in 1960 is considered relevant. Source: WHO, 2015.

As Nigeria’s water sources are plenty, why is such as a large amount of the population suffering from water stress?

When examining the interplay between water sources and water provision there are a number of anthropogenic factors challenging the management of the existing sources. The most intuitive ones might be human-induced contamination (of surface and/or groundwater) and overexploitation.

Surface water is Nigeria is exposed to various contaminants and potentially harmful bacteria. Human and animal sewage, household and industrial wastes easily enter these sources – currently, 5.6 % of Nigeria have access to or make use of sewage systems causing frequent contamination of water sources. With regards to the consequences of climate change especially in the semi-arid regions, the impact of human activities can potentially worsen. After a long period without precipitation, the soil easily dries out. Thus, low infiltration rates and increased surface runoff result in agricultural pesticides and other sources of contamination to run off easily into overground sources (Upadhi and Wokoma, 2012). 

Groundwater too is vulnerable and easily exposed to contamination. There are numerous causes for contamination such as extensive use of pesticides which end up in the groundwater and seepage of pollutants originating from waste dump sites. Additionally, unprotected drinking sources such as uncovered wells and broken pipes allow contamination to take place. Poorly maintained pipes, for instance, are a present issue in 60% of high-density areas the Niger Delta (Ezeabasili, Okoro, and Ezeabasili, 2014). It is found, that 15% of all completed works on water infrastructure lack sufficient quality (World Bank, 2017) which severely impacts the quality and quantity of water provided. Once toxins have reached the aquifers, they quickly disperse unknowingly and potentially cause severe damage when not diluted in time. Groundwater once polluted often reaches drinking sources unacquainted. This may have serious consequences since usually, no infiltration process takes place after exploitation. Potentially these circumstances can be deadly as reported in the newspaper article I inserted underneath.

Deadly consequences of polluted water. Source: Premiumtimesng.com

Who exactly is responsible for contamination? One finds that multiple levels are involved in the protection of water sources (or the very lack of necessary protection).

One can distinguish between four main players involved in the protection of water sources and the linked maintenance of water infrastructure. Individuals and households carry the responsibility to a certain amount. For instance, discarding waste and sewage near or in water sources might induce contamination as well as the careless use of agricultural pesticides by farmers. This, however, is also tightly linked to knowledge and suitable alternatives (Galladima et al. 2011). Secondly, corresponding authorities (as for instance in the case of pipe maintenance) are majorly responsible and as shown earlier. Even though knowledge about the necessity of proper maintenance and the know-how might be in place, as presented above inefficiency and a lack of monitoring appear to block adequate work. (A different way to organize source management and maintenance might be community owned water infrastructure which we covered in a seminar last week. For the sake of brevity, I will not examine this approach further. 

A third major player to identify here is the industry and more precisely the oil industry. Oil Spill based water pollution frequently occurs in Nigeria, a major global oil exporter since it’s the discovery of the oil in the 1950s. Insufficiently monitored oil pipes and discharge of wastewater contaminated with numerous brines result in major impacts in the quality of water and make the industry a root cause of health hazards (Getso, 2011). A prominent example of impacts of the industrial powers is the case of Shell in the Niger Delta. For many years, exploitation of oil through a daughter company of the Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Company in the Niger Delta caused severe environmental pollution and water contamination through oil spillage which Shell failed to take immediate responsibility for.

Finally, the fourth major player in the arena of water management and protection in Nigeria is the federal government and jurisdiction. Tighter environmental regulations and policies (and thus water protecting), as well as monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms, could help protecting existing water sources and prevent health hazards. However, as for instance with the Oil exploitation, the immediate economic incentives to regulate effectively might be too low even though the price for water contamination on the long run is staggering (Galladima et al., 2011, ECCR,2010)

Besides contamination, overexploitation is another significant factor. I provided an example relating to over-exploitation on this blog before when outlining the Lake Chad Crisis. Agricultural irrigation and water-intensive mining processes, for instance, take place in regions where water is naturally scarce such as northern parts of the country resulting in partial water poverty.

It appears that despite rich water sources major challenges stand in the way of the reliable provision of clean and safe water for all Nigerians. The exposure to water contaminations, in particular, appears omnipresent and causes enormous and partly hidden costs which accumulate rapidly.