Govt decries large scale borehole drilling in Lagos

THE Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) has raised the alarm of an imminent borehole drilling induced landslide in the state.Mr Shayo Holloway, Group Managing Director of LSWC, said that the incessant drilling of boreholes remained one of the dangers facing residents of the state in recent times.Holloway told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recently, that large scale drilling of boreholes also polluted the interconnection of underground water.He said that the danger had challenged the corporation towards enforcing subsisting law regulating the drilling of boreholes.According to him, the enforcement of the bore hole drilling law will commence in 2012.``We will start enforcing the law because if every household continues to drill borehole in the next 10 years, there may be a man-made earthquake, because the abandoned ones are not properly covered,'' he said.The GMD said that the existing law enacted since 2004, empowered the corporation to regulate bore hole drilling in the state, adding that LSWC had since the enactment of the law, collaborated with licensed commercial bore hole drillers in the management of underground water.The LSWC boss also said that the corporation had floated an Independent Power Plant (IPP) for sustained 10 hours pumping of water daily in the state.'I am assuring the public that there will be a drastic improvement in water supply in the state because the corporation has gotten an IPP that is dedicated to power Iju and Adiyan water works.'Now that we are sure that we can supply the entire state with water, we will enforce the law to the letter, because of the implication it may have on the state,'' Holloway said.In his contributions, LSWC Assistant General Manager, Quality Assurance, Dr Bola Balogun, said that the shallow character of most bore holes posed another health challenge to the citizens.Balogun said that water from shallow bore holes was salty and dangerous for human consumption because it could cause typhoid fever, hypertension and high blood pressure.'Domestic boreholes are affecting water production because it pollutes the water when it is abandoned and refuse dumped into it,' Balogun said.She urged residents of Lagos to connect their operations with the water corporation, adding that water from the corporation was safe from germs and other water borne diseases.
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