Sadly, some residents of Calabar have expressed worry over the lack of pipe borne water

Public water taps have finally gone dried. For over four to six months now, the people of Cross River State have not seen water flowing from their taps and as at Monday the taps have remained dried totally.

Investigations conducted by Daily Times revealed that the Ministry of water resources and water board have no single chemicals to treat water.

Besides treating water, our source hinted that the board is oweing Port Harcourt   Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) several millions of naira. To worsen situation, the corporate headquarters of the board was sealed on Monday for nonpayment of revenue.

Sadly, some residents of Calabar have expressed worry over the lack of pipe borne water in the city in recent months, saying that they have resorted to boreholes as an alternative.

The residents expressed their concern over the situation in separate interviews with our correspondent in the Cross River capital saying that they were more worried about the health implications of drinking water from boreholes now dug indiscriminately in all the nooks and crannies of the city.

They called on the Cross River Water Board Limited to restore the supply of pipe borne water in the city without delay. Mrs Atim Effiong Okon who runs a restaurant in the city, said the prolonged pipe borne water scarcity in Calabar was worrisome, describing it as strange.

She said: “For over five years now, Calabar has not witnessed water scarcity for such a long period and it appears nothing is being done to about it.

Now I had to employ someone to fetch water for me from boreholes to be able to run my business.” Archibong Udo, a retired civil servant residing in parliamentary area of the city, said that taps in the area had been dry for over two months now.

“It is well over two months that we had pipe borne water last and it is a terrible situation. We have not experienced this kind of situation in Calabar for quite a long time now,” he said. Mr. Udoh said most of the residents had now been compelled to fetch water from private boreholes but expressed fears over the safety of water from such a source.

According to Edem Ekpenyong, sinking of private boreholes has become the order of the day in Calabar. “Calabar has actually changed. Some people now sink boreholes anyhow in their premises.

Everywhere you turn to now you see people carrying jerry cans in search of water. This is not the Calabar that we were used to,” he said.

When contacted, the Mr Emmanuel Orok, the Director in charge of Public Relations in the state water board on phone on Monday, he said “We are not allow to talk like that, until we get permission from the Managing Director, if you have issue to discuss you can see him but not for now or today, it is not possible.

“At the moment, we have issues to resolve with Inland Revenue Service, already our offices have been sealed up.

You can come on Friday by 5pm, as it now, we are not settled, we are trying to negotiate with them because they have sealed our offcies” he stated. In view of the scarcity of water in cross river state, water born diseases are eminent in the state.

Consequently, at various health institutions, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), General Hospital and some health centres visited, an outbreak of water born diseases such as cholera, dysentery, vomiting and other water born related infections have been reported and are on the increase.

At the emergency department of the hospitals, our correspondent observed that all the available spaces and beds are occupied by victims of water born diseases. Medical Doctors, Nurses and health officials on duties were seen battling to bring back lives to some of the babies that almost gave off the ghosts.

The medical personels put the problem on absent of portable water supply as public taps dried for over a year now. “The people are now buying untreated water from bole-hold operators as well as fetching water from stagnant water ponds for consumption and domestic usage.

The absent of water was not taken serious until when people started reporting cases of cholera and diarrhoea as well as other water born diseases in the state capital to the General Hospital, Clinics and University of Calabar Teaching Hospital”

Edem Edem, Calabar