Idoma communities where rainwater is gold

Access to potable water in many Idoma speaking communities in Benue State has become an impossibility and so residents have resorted to storing rain water for use throughout the dry season.

Most of the residents across the nine local government areas known as Zone C seem to have accepted their fate in the belief that they would never find a lasting solution to the challenge despite several efforts to do so.

In Obotu-Ugboju community of Otukpo Local Government Area, residents collect and store water in large containers during the rainy season to sustain their families when the dry season sets in.

At Adikwu Ochagala’s compound in Obotu-Icho, there are various containers for water preservation, as well as a 100,000 litre capacity tank filled with rain water and locked up with strict instruction to family members not to use the content.

Ochagala said the water would be preserved for drinking and cooking throughout the dry season.

“This water is estimated to last for at least four months. My family will start using it from December until next year’s rainfall starts,” he said.

Similarly, some families in the village have constructed local underground tanks to collect rain water during the wet season and preserve same for use when water becomes scarce between December and April every year.

Others in Obotu, however, rely on water from a distant stream as they trek to and fro every morning and evening to fetch the muddywater.

During the dry season, the stream dries up, so they’d have to dig the ground to scoop water which barely fills a 20-litre container at a time.

According to Ochagala, the topography of the village, located on a hill top, makes it difficult to obtain water from hand-dug wells, as the community had tried severally but with little success.

For Alechenu Abah, the 80,000 litre tank in front of his residence in Obotu is used to preserve rain water which the family drinks throughout the dry season.

Abah said that was the only way for them to manage water crisis during scarcity, adding that no one cares much about the health implications of storing untreated water for such a long period.

Although some communities in Benue State have benefitted from the World Bank-Assisted water projects or other donors,