Water scarcity hits 3 Anambra LGAs as flood damages boreholes, toilets

Over 50 hand-pumping boreholes and 30 public toilet facilities have been damaged by flood in three local government areas of Anambra State.

This has caused water scarcity in the affected local government areas, as indigenes fear that other remaining sources of water may have been contaminated.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) coordinators in three flood-ravaged areas of Ihiala, Ogbaru and Ekwusigo local government areas stated this on Friday, during a meeting of officials of United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) with stakeholders of the areas on post-flood assessment.

The WASH coordinators who deployed field officers to flood-affected areas for assessment of the damage caused by the flood reported that many of the affected communities have lost their sources of drinking water, due to the destruction of boreholes by the flood.

WASH coordinator for Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Mrs Queen Udolisa in her report noted that many boreholes drilled for the community by UNICEF have been damaged by the flood, while others had been vandalised.

She said: “Most of the communities we visited, including markets, we found out that the toilets have been swept off by flood, and villagers are afraid of drinking from their regular sources of water because they fear that it is already contaminated.”

Chairman of Ogbaru LGA, Mr Pascal Aniegbuna further explained that some of the boreholes were not only destroyed by flood, but criminals took advantage of the relocation of indigenes to camps, to steal the sumo of most of the boreholes