By Our Reporter
Lagos State Government has reaffirmed its position on issuance of regulatory permit for borehole drillers operating in the state to avoid the depletion of groundwater resources, effective water governance, management and appropriate regulations by the authority.
The government decision was reaffirmed at a recent stakeholders’ engagement organised by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources in conjunction with Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, LASWARCO.
The State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, said that it is important to realise the benefits of consuming clean water and the consequences of doing otherwise, stressing that government must protect the water space particularly the ground water.
According to the Commissioner, water is a common resource that it’s environmental sustenance lies on its management and regulations and all critical stakeholders must be aware of the guidelines set by the government to achieve this goal.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Office of Water Resources and Drainage Services, Mr. Mahmood Adegbite, Wahab said: “The very first thing is to understand the fact that we need to treat ground water as a rear resource. It is such an important resource of the state that we need to manage in a sustainable manner.
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“So we are calling on players in the water space, drillers, to work with government together we are going to a destination that works for everybody. You need a license from the regulatory commission, we want to know who is doing what and where, it’s based on class, if you’re in class A, this is what you can do”.
He called on stakeholders to collaborate with the state to manage ground water resources, harping on the need to start using data to deal with issues.
In her contribution during the stakeholders forum, the Executive Secretary of LASWARCO, Mrs Funke Adepoju noted that the move was necessary to ensure regulations are adhered to and enforcement will be strengthened to allow total compliance by all stakeholders to safeguard the environment.
She said the drillers need a license adding that whoever is having commercial borehole needs a permit. “ Eventually, when a driller finished drilling, we need to have a borehole completion report. From those reports, State can gather data for planning and we expect that the borehole should also have identification plate that will be issued by the commission and probably with Qr Code.
“You can put it out there, anytime anybody needs a data, it also supports data. We need to do water audit to know what they are taking we have to safe the environment, because it’s the main resource that they use, they need to operate responsibility within Lagos State,” the LASWARCO boss declared.
While speaking on the Socio-Economic impact of unregulated ground water abstraction in a sedimentary terrain, a case of Lagos State, a Professor from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Olufemi ldowu, who described the engagement as an opportunity to take informed decision said: “If Groundwater is not regulated with increasing population over exploitation water quantity will diminish”.
