Epidemics Looms, As Scarcity Of Portable Water Hits Plateau State
By giwa alex, Jos
There is palpable fear of outbreak of diseases in plateau state as there is perennial scarcity portable drinking in the state capital as residents Scrabble in search of any available sources of drinking water in most of the dry wells .
In view of the scarcity ,our reporter gathered that a gallon of Jerry -can now sold between 60 to 70 naira per litre by the water vendors aka Mai ruwa who drive their trucks into all the nook and crannies of the communities in the state searching for buyers .
The residents of of Apata at the heart of the state capital in jos North LG has raised alarm as they now practically depends on water vendors as the only source of portable water in the locality and it surroundings.
The same harrowing situation is been face by the residents of Gimbi in Wase ,LGA of the state ,as the residents of the communities said they are been forced by the present situation to struggle with animals in the same streams which all the sources has dried largely due to effects of dry season .
The state Water Board ,and the ministry of water resources are not helping matter as they no longer pump water through Yakubu Gowon Dam and Lamingo dam as all the water supply has been cut off completely from the state .
The residents of the state and it environ are now lamenting the hardship caused by the water board who they said for just no reasons has refused to supply water to the citizens ,as the challenges bit harder .
The Jenta Adamu ,Mangoro ,Kabong ,Angwan Rukuba ,Tudun Wada are most affected areas where residents are complaining of not getting water for the past two months and their only source of drinking water through water board and the available well which are already dry up completely .
The community leaders are now begging the All Progressive Congress(APC) led government in the state to wale up to his responsibility to help and reduce the difficulties been faced by the families especially with the rising cost of foodstuffs in the market .
In an exclusive interview with some of the residents of the affected communities ,they said they’re passing through economic difficulty but it appear the state government is not doing enough to cushion the effect of their situation .
“We wake up very early around 4am every morning in search for drinking water so by the time you get one gallon of water you’re tired already and we don’t have money to buy it from the truck pushers .”they lamented.
We are appealing the government to prevailed on the water board to supply water to all the surrounding communities as we are suffering ,we can’t take our bath and other domestic things for lack of water coupled with deplorable condition of motorable roads of most of the affected communities like Jenta Adamu, Mangoro bridge there is no accessible road .
The people of Jenta Adamu,Jenta Apata ward are calling on the Local Government Chairman ,Hon .Shehu Usman Bala to come to their rescue and complete the ongoing road construction because it has caused untold hardship ,even cars are finding it difficult to pass through the untarred road .
Meanwhile, the people of Gimbi community of Wase Local Government Council are also complaining of not getting water to drink .
They are saying all their sources of drinking water had dry and they’re not receiving attention from the local authority to Savage their situation .
However,there is palpable fear that if the government of the state didn’t take an argent steps in addressing the situation of acute water supply to the state ,and the most affected communities in particular,there may be out break of epidemic in the state in the shortest possible time.
