Federal Government College Enugu – The Search For Water

Most people in Southeast Nigeria know the story of widespread water scarcity in Enugu State. As recent as March 2021, residents of the State took their frustrations to Twitter with hashtags such as #EnuguWaterScarcity and #NoWaterInEnugu trending.

What most people do not know however is that this problem did not start today.

When I got into Federal Government College (FGC) Enugu almost 40 years ago, the school was supplied water from 9th mile corner?by tankers and the shortfall in water supply was made up from the nearby Ugwuaji stream where a considerable number of junior students spent their time every day, fetching water, washing their plates and cutlery, and doing their laundry. At the time, all the WC toilets in the school had been boarded up because there was insufficient water to effectively flush the toilets. Four decades on, and the school still can’t deploy WC toilets in its hostels because of the same perennial water problems.

FGC Enugu’s water problem has persisted, and it is not for lack of trying to find a solution. Public potable water supply is literally non-existent across Nigeria however, unlike some other States in the country, borehole underground water is also difficult to find in major parts of Enugu state due to the soil formation. Water can only be found in three water bearing aquifers in the State; Ajali, Nsukka and Agbani sand stones. The Ajali formation is within the 9th mile area (which explains the cluster of industries around there), at Nsukka formation (particularly within Nsukka metropolis) and the sandstone found around Agbani/Akpugo area.

Apart from these areas, shale covers the rest of Enugu extending to Benue State and makes it difficult for drilling rigs to perforate while an underlying coal formation that runs across the State contaminates shallow wells. Wells / boreholes dug in such areas are viable only during the rains and quickly dry up during the dry season.

Water Tanker drivers seem to have been the biggest beneficiaries of this problem. Few get their water from the areas covering the three aquifers mentioned earlier, while the rest obtain water from unhygienic and polluted streams and dugouts.

For homes and businesses in Enugu, the cost of buying water is a significant cost of living (the same applies to FGC Enugu where the daily cost of buying water is one of the single largest recurrent expenditures) and depends on the distance from 9th mile corner which is tied to the cost of diesel. This explains the escalating cost of water in Enugu as in recent times, diesel has moved from around N170 per litre to approximately N800 per litre.

Residents who cannot afford the water tankers harvest surface water from streams and dugouts, process in treatment plants (for those who can afford it) or treat with alum and reticulate to their homes.

Alumni of Federal Government College Enugu (FGCEOSA) have always believed that if the seemingly intractable water problem in the school is solved, challenges around hygiene, maintenance of the school’s football field and green areas, nature of toilets and bathrooms deployed, student’s study time and high operating cost of the school will find a natural resolution.

Over the years, The FGC Enugu alumni body have embarked on several costly interventions towards solving the water crisis in the school, the most recent being a rainwater collection and reticulation system, which essentially collects and stores rainwater during the rains from the roofs of the various buildings in the school and reticulates after treatment (I know this for certain as an active participant in the school alumni's activities and the immediate past National President of the FGCE Old Students Association).

So you can imagine the relief when TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria, its Joint Venture and PSC partners committed to deploy considerable resources as a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to find water in the school as well as provide a solar powered borehole and water treatment plant. The specification given to the project contractor, Toppens Contracting Supplies (Toppens) was to drill to a maximum of 300metres (beyond the underlying Ajali formation, which would be between 100 and 200metres) and get ‘sustainable’ water supply at a flow rate of 2,500 litres per hour.

The commissioning of the project today November 10, 2022 is a dream come true for many of us who have looked forward to this day for 40 years and more. The impact on the quality of education at FGC Enugu and the lives of people living in and around the school premises is unquantifiable.

Thanks to TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited, it's JV Partner the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and their PSC Partners, PRIME, CNOOC and SAPETRO.

#USOSA #water

#FGCE

#Enuguwater

#EnuguWaterscarcity

#NoWaterInEnugu?

#alumni

#TotalEnergies?

#jekwuozoemene?