Piwoyi residents decry water shortage

Residents of Piwoyi, a settlement along Airport Road in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have complained of lack of potable water, which they say is making life difficult for them.

The residents told City News yesterday that despite the growing population of the settlement, they have no pipe borne water and the three boreholes cannot meet their daily water needs.

Our reporter gathered that residents depend on three boreholes - two sank by government and one privately operated, but are made to pay to fetch water from the boreholes which have mostly been taken over by water vendors known as mai ruwa.

A resident, Adamu Danjuma, told City News that the water vendors fetch water from the boreholes at the rate of N150 per truck and sell it at the rate of N250 to residents.

“We pay money to buy water from government boreholes, but I think it is supposed to be free, most of us here don’t have enough money for our daily water needs. Government should please come and help us,” she said.

Another resident, Maimunat Dauda, said the price at the only private borehole is even higher, and they feel the pangs of water scarcity most when the government owned boreholes are out of use.

A worker at the government operated boreholes told City News that residents need to pay for the maintenance as government’s response is usually slow when a fault develops.

When contacted, the Director of FCT Water Board, Engr Hudu Bello, said they can only provide water to areas were there is water infrastructure.

According to him, the board’s responsibility for now is just to treat and reticulate water where pipes have already been laid.