Chief Harrison Odungwere, a monarch in the Ogale community, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, has lamented the terrible condition of contaminated water in his community, according to PUNCH report.
Odungwere, while expressing sadness over the situation said that members of the community have had to consume the contaminated water as a result of absence of clean water.
He also said that he and his family members use table and sachet water to cooking and bath, while those who cannot afford to live on such have been condemned to using the contaminated water as it is.
He said,
“I have about 300 bags of sachet water, which we use for cooking and bathing, which will last my family a week. But those who can’t afford bottled or sachet water still drink, bathe and cook with the contaminated water.
“Our community is heavily impacted and polluted by hydrocarbons for the past 15 years or thereabouts.
“The Ogale people have been drinking highly polluted water and suffering until when the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project came up and started supplying potable water with tankers, which was a big relief that time until that programme failed.”
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Buhari orchestrates Plan to Reduce Osinbajo, Sacks 35 Aides
“The NDDC has dug one borehole somewhere in our community for people go to fetch water, but it is not enough. We need an industrialised water supply system that will be connected to people’s homes in our community.”
Odungwere urged the Federal Government to used industrialized system to supply clean water in the community as every borehole owned by individuals and private organizations are contaminated with crude oil.