Acute water scarcity has hit Kaduna state, Northwest Nigeria, as a result of the breakdown of services by the state’s water board.
The problem has been attributed to damaged power transmission line to the Malali water treatment plant which supplies water to the metropolis and environs, coupled with the recent strike embarked by electricity workers last Monday.
Although the workers have called off the strike, the scarcity has left residents scrambling for alternative clean water sources for their daily usage.
Some of the areas worst affected by the scarcity include Barnawa, Sabon Tasha, Zaria, Romi, Tirkaniya, Gonin Gora, Taiwo Road, Abubakar Kigo Road, Costain Quarters and environs.
A resident of Barnawa, says most of them in the area now rely on commercial borehole operators and water vendors popularly called ‘Mai Ruwa’ for their daily water supply.
Some of them who spoke to Channels Television blamed the state water board for the scarcity. They said this is not the first time they are facing such situation, and wondered why government cannot find an alternative means of providing them with water pending when it repairs the fault at its transmitting station.
Only few houses are privileged enough to have boreholes within them, and are slightly immune from the problem. But lack of electricity to pump water becomes a problem.
