By Obiabin Onukwugha
Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) has urged immediate action on a strange chemical leakage from a domestic borehole facility in Agudama Community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
EDEN specifically underscores this call to relevant stakeholders, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and the National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA) to take immediate action before the leakage worsens.
NatureNews gathered that the borehole, which is in close proximity to an SPDC owned facility in the area, has been dispensing liquid suspected to be crude, recently.
A report by EDEN after it visited the area, quoted the owner of the borehole, Beatrice Mieye, as saying that the chemical was noticed after repair work on the borehole.
It said: “Following a distress call from a resident of the community, Beatrice Mieye on Sunday the 12th of January 2025 about a strange liquid which looks like crude oil obtained from her borehole, the EDEN field monitoring team led by the Deputy Executive Director of EDEN, Alagoa Morris promptly visited the site on the same day to investigate the complaint.”
Beatrice Mieye revealed to the EDEN team that she had been using water from the borehole for about six years without experiencing such chemicals.
The report stated that she (Beatrice Mieye) had observed that due to what she described as some careless handling of the submersible pump, the pump could not be accessed and had been lying fallow for about six to seven months until she acquired a new surface pump and tried to get water on that same Sunday when the unexpected strange liquid was seen inside the water.
The leakage was then reported to the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment, Ebi Ben Ololo, which prompted another visit of the site by Alagoa Morris, the commissioner for environment and the State Sanitation Authority on Tuesday, 14th of January, 2025.
While the commissioner has expressed the determination of the ministry of environment to follow up on the matter, EDEN called for a swift intervention by SPDC and all related government agencies, to detect the cause and source of the spill for prompt resolution.
