Stopping COVID-19 spread through water

It is worrisome that over fifty years after Nigeria’s independence, potable water is still a major problem. ‎From the federal to state governments, it has been a story of one disappointing move or the other. Underserved communities have suffered and will continue to wallow in diseases associated with lack of or poor access to water, with no hope in sight.

At all levels of governance, several water schemes have been built and targeted at the urban, semi-urban and rural communities in the country. Earth dams and hydroelectricity dams, community boreholes and even wells have been built. But unfortunately water supply is still very poor and deserves urgent attention. ‎Many communities still travel long distances to access water from wells that are being over-exploited. Nigeria deserves better.

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Over the years, it has become obvious that governments are either not serious enough about solving the problem of water scarcity, or are overwhelmed. But for private sector intervention, Nigeria would have not been able to solve this problem. Bottled water of different sizes, dispenser and sachet water, make Nigerians heave a sigh of relief. However, even with this reprieve comes some fear.

Several factories that produce and package purified water are highly substandard and illegally operated. For example, some factories use the licences ‎of others in a different state to operate despite that the law stipulates that every factory, even a branch of a factory, has to be registered individually. Some factory owners deliberately collect rents on their licence, from so called factory branches that do not conform to good manufacturing standards, thereby encouraging the selling poisonous water to the public. Some factories have not made any attempt to be registered at all. These are the more dangerous ones and they traverse the country. These are the factories that will spread COVID-19.

Substandard water factories ‎will spread COVID- 19 if they are not quickly stopped because they thwart all safety producers. Findings have shown that standard practices like use of protective face masks, head covers and use of sterilisers are optional in substandard facilities. On the move, in offices or workshops and at home, more than eighty percent of Nigeria’s population depend on sachet water and bottled water for drinking. The most outrageous practices are the cases where traders buy empty bottles and fill them with well water or water from rivers and streams, label them, then sell to commuters and passersby. Apart from selling contaminated water in sachets and bottles, the body of the sachets and bottles are also contaminated. Diseases such as amoebiasis, cholera, typhoid fever and COVID-19 can easily be spread.

The Federal Government should therefore focus on water production, packaging and distribution. In doing so, dependence on the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should not be heavy because their level of closure of substandard factories and arrest of fake producers is not impressive. A special task force on water purity and availability is long overdue, and should be given the job. COVID-19 can be spread through water as well. So it’s time to act.