Arewa PUNCH today authoritatively reports that there are growing concerns by Plateau State residents over the absence of pipe-borne water in many communities.

They particularly decry the fast-growing trend whereby politicians eagerly and readily sink boreholes in their communities instead of connecting them to the government’s pipe-borne water system.

Speaking with our Correspondent in Jos on Friday, not a few of the stakeholders, including civil society organisations lamented that public officials, including legislators, now prefer to sink boreholes as development projects instead of connecting and revamping the pipe borne water lines that run across the various communities.

A cross-section of the people who condemned the development called on the state government and the legislators involved in the act to always consider the negative health implications and environmental impacts on the affected communities as a result of the continuous drilling of boreholes.

A resident of Tudun Wada in the Jos North Local Government Area, Samson Badungs lamented the incessant drilling of boreholes even in the city centre, describing it as strange.

“Honestly, what is happening today in the city of Jos is somehow strange, especially as every household looks up to boreholes as the only solution to the persistent water scarcity in many communities since it appears that the government has abandoned the provision of a pipe-borne water system.

“In the past, you only find boreholes in rural areas where pipe-borne water systems are unavailable and not in the cities. Never! Perhaps you may also find them at other city locations where government water could not reach.

“I think the government should look into this issue and regulate this whole thing before it becomes a big problem,” Badungs stated.

Another resident in the Bukuru community of Jos South LGA, John Nwachuku, who also expressed concern about the negative implication of indiscriminate borehole drilling in the city called on the authorities to intervene in the trend and save the people from an impending danger.

“I’m happy you are raising the issue. Please, you people should continue to draw the attention of the government to the dangers inherent in borehole drilling so that they will do something to revive public water supply, especially in the cities because it is gradually giving way to private boreholes,” he advised.

Echoing the mindsets of the Jos residents, an environmental expert, Mr. Benson Fasanya, who also shared the fears already  expressed by the people, called for an end to incessant  borehole drilling in Jos because of its negative consequences

Fasanya, who is the Executive Director of The Centre for Earth Works, insisted, “For me, pipe born water is way better than boreholes drilling. If the public water supply is working, I’m sure nobody will be thinking of sinking a borehole. The truth is that the borehole is creating a lot of mini faults underground, and if they become accumulated, that is when you will have unexplained earth tremors in many communities that have been affected as a result of boreholes. We have had earth tremors in some parts of Abuja communities not too long but we hope that Jos does not experience this kind of thing and that is why something has to be done by way of regulation by the authorities concerned.”

In the estimation of industry and economy expert, Dr Sunday Gyang, who also lamented the trend, he retorted, “I’m worried about this incessant drilling of boreholes in many communities in the state without regard to the consequences. If you go to many communities in Plateau State, many of them have boreholes provided for them as development projects either by the state government, legislators, or even NGOs. I don’t know why the preference for pipe-borne water appears to have been abandoned despite the fact that it is safer for the health of the people and less costly to execute.

“Although, I heard that the preference is not unconnected with easy money as it affords some corrupt public officials to amass wealth through the award of contracts which are usually on the high side,” Gyang disclosed.

However, the state government vowed that it had not abandoned the provision of pipe-borne water to the various communities.

Speaking with Arewa PUNCH, the Secretary of the Jos Water Services Corporation, JK Chris, denied the allegation, stressing that, on the contrary, the government was working to expand its water facilities to communities that lack the same

His words: “Yes, there are communities that have received government intervention and have been provided with boreholes, but that does not mean that we have abandoned pipe-borne water. As a matter of fact, we are working to expand the pipe-borne water facilities to as many communities in the state as possible because the process of procurement has begun, and very soon, the people will see the result,” he assured.