Bauchi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Ghali Abdulhamid, says over 40 per cent of drinking water in the state is contaminated.
Abdulhamid made the assertion on Wednesday in Bauchi while delivering a speech at the 2017 World Water Day celebration Tagged “Water, Waste Water”.
He said the situation was responsible for wide spread of water borne diseases such cholera, polio, diarrhea and other water related diseases.
Abdulhamid observed that waste water from laundry activities and hand wash basins could be retreated and recycled for human use to avoid wastage.
“Such water can be used in watering flower beds, gardens, washing bikes and cars as not to waste water within our environment.
“The state government is carrying out major reform policies to reflect sanitation and sewage components to develop adequate and safe public water supply,” he said.
The commissioner said that the state government in collaboration with UNICEF has drilled boreholes in various locations in the state to reduce shortage of the commodity being faced by the people.
He called on communities where such projects were sited to be vigilant and ensure their maintenance.
Hajiya Hawa Hassan, an Environmentalist in Bauchi UNICEF Field Office, isaid that UNICEF would soon launch a report on elemental nature of water.
According to her, the report will come under a broad title of “Thirsting for a future, Water and children in a changing climate.”
Hawa observed that by 2040, about 600 million children would live in areas of extremely high stressed, poorest and most disadvantaged, adding that the children would suffer most.
She said that Bauchi State government had released N200 million as counterpart fund for the construction of 380 hand pump boreholes in 380 locations in five local government areas of the state.
Hawa said the effort by the government had spurred the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID) to increase funding for the projects in two additional local government areas of the state.