Lagos State Government on Wednesday revealed that over 50 percent of residents in the state who visit its hospitals do so because they have waterborne related ailment, saying it has intensified regulation of water consumption both domestic and industrial.
These were disclosed during a joint press briefing by the State Water Regulatory Commission (LSWRC), Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) and Lagos State Waste Water management in Alausa, Ikeja on programme of activities to mark this year’s Water Day, themed “Waste Water.”
Speaking at the briefing, Executive Secretary, LSWRC, Mr. Ahmed Abdullahi, lamented unhygienic water used by bottle and sachet water producers and others with water related content, was affecting residents health.
“About 50 percent of those who visit hospitals today do so because they have water related ailment. We are working to control the situation in order to have healthier society,” he said.
Abdullahi disclosed that many residents of the state do not often check the producer of the water and other contents before drinking the product.
The executive secretary argued that enforcement would be intensified until water sector in the state attain its set standard which was to have safe and drinkable water always.
He stated that the need for regulation was stated in the sanitation law, adding that, the new law allowed free abstraction for domestic use specifically for single tenement.
According to him, the Lagos state water regulatory commission will continue to check the quality of water abstraction consumed by residents of Lagos state, adding that measures had been put in place to ensure that waterborne diseases are averted in Lagos.
Dwelling on the need to regulate NBC and other drink producers in the state as it concerns water usage, the executive secretary said: “NBC is having issues with the Lagos State Water regulatory Commission. They always tried to avoid regulatory issues. There are issues that they are having seriously with us and we are working at. We would stop at nothing to ensure that they fully comply.
Although Abdullahi did not expatiate on the offense of the popularly drink producer but it was learnt that the company have allegedly denied the regulatory commission access to its premises to check to the company’s compliance to set standards for production of its products .