Lagos sets 2020 date to meet water demand of residents

The Lagos State government has set 2020 date to meet the water demand of the residents of the state.

Lagos presently produces about 210 million gallons of water per day from its various water plants which is far below the demand of the residents estimated at 540 million per day. As a result, majority of the residents rely on boreholes for their water needs.

Major public waterworks run by the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) include Adiyan Waterworks targeting about 72 million gallons p/d; Iju Waterworks with capacity for 45 million gallons p/d and Ishasi Waterworks producing about four million gallons p/d.

These are aside other mini and micro waterworks scattered across the state, some not producing at all and some producing at far below installed capacities.

But Governor Babatunde Fashola said the target was to produce 745 million gallons per day to exceed demand which is expected to rise to about 733 million gallons by 2020. The governor who gave the assurance after inspecting on-going construction in the massive Adiyan Waterworks said the project is designed to put an end to scarcity of potable water supply to the residents.

Harping on the importance of the Ajiyan Waterworks, he said, “The construction work on the Adiyan Waterworks phase II is in top gear. The contractor has showed that they could work at night and hopefully, this will speed up the construction of the water works.

“This is the third major waterworks in the state. The first was the Iju Waterworks which was built in about 1910. There was no major intervention in the state until 1991 when Adiyan Waterworks phase I was constructed. That is a long time and the population continued to grow in the state. The state government has constructed so many mini and micro water works. The reason why this is important was that we started with the micro water works and to resuscitate some of those that were built by my predecessors, and to construct more as a short term measure in the first term.”

According to him, this is a medium term plan in the second term, adding that the long term plan is to have more if this is being built in partnership with private sector to deliver more of such projects.

Fashola added, “This is direct government funding. The long term plan is that we will need more of this to be able to hit the water demands for the residents of the state. The plan is that by 2020, we should be able to meet the plan of the citizens of the state.”

The governor explained that provision of water alone is never the answer to water scarcity but the conservation of water.

He said, “Like all utilities, one can never over supply, so to have adequate supply, it requires minimisation of waste, conservation.
“Work on the Ifako-Ijaiye mini stadium is ongoing and it will be completed. It is a commitment I made to them and I assured them that I will deliver it. And hopefully we will finish it before 2015.”