Seven communities in Abia State have raised the alarm that their source of drinking water has been polluted by an oil spill at Usankanya River near Isimiri Flow Station. The flow station is owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company.The affected communities, according to a statement by a non-governmental organisation, Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development, are Umuorie; Umukalu; Umuituru; Orborhia; Umuebulungwu, Obohia and Obunku in Ukwa West Local Government Area."The main source of drinking water is badly affected, as the spillage has extended to seven riverine communities,"the Executive Director of the group, Mr. Nelson Nwafor, and the Director, Corporate Accountability and Administration, Mr. Chuka Okoye, said.The group said the communities had on August 25, 2011 informed the SPDC about the spill and also wrote a letter detailing their efforts to address the problem.The group acknowledged the visit of SPDCs officials to the site on September 6 for a minor repair work, but said its response since then has been poor.Noting that the cause of the spill was as a result of a pipe that burst, FENRAD claimed that the pipelines were laid in the 60s and no step had been taken by the SPDC to upgrade them, so they burst with the slightest pressure."The perennial crops around Usankanya River, where the spillage is occurring heavily have all been destroyed. Even plantain plantations, cassava farms, vegetable gardens, orange and banana trees have all been destroyed," it stated.FENRAD added that apart from damages done to farms, fishes in the pond close to the spillage site had been killed as a result of the spillage. "After we had a meeting with Umuorie community on September 24 and 26, we visited the spillage site with four community representatives, and we saw fishermen holding their nets and lamenting seriously about not being able to catch any fish from the pond because all the fishes were dead," the group said.It expressed concern that the environment was filled with the odour of crude oil, which had caused serious health hazards for the people in the communities.FENRAD said despite the health hazard and environmental degeneration the spillage constituted, SPDC had continued to delay the cleaning of the spillage site and was not forthcoming with payment of compensation to the affected communities.When our correspondent contacted the spokesman of SPDC on Sunday, Mr. Precious Okolobo, on the telephone, he said he would make a comment on the issue via email on Monday.However, as at press time on Tuesday, Okolobo had not responded, despite reminders sent via text messages and calls to his mobile phone on Monday and Tuesday.
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