Yemisi Dada
The Lagos State government has partnered an NGO, WaterAid Nigeria to launch a four-day comprehensive training program aimed at equipping health officials with the skills needed to ensure that water in Lagos is safe for consumption.
The training tagged Climate Resilience Water Safety Planning Training for Lagos State Emergency Operation Center for Cholera Control was part of ongoing efforts to improve public health by tackling waterborne diseases, especially cholera, held at Ikeja GRA.
A Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, Facilitator, Ms Faith Gbagidi, who emphasized the importance of safe drinking water in preventing diseases such as cholera and dysentery, said clear water does not make it fit for consumption until properly treated.
Ms Gbagidi who highlighted some measures to put in place to ensure safe drinking water to include absence of human and animal interactions with water, irrigation, erosion and climate change, tasked Lagos State Water Regulatory Authority to double its efforts at enforcing compliance with safety measures.
“Beyond a clear water, there is need for water to pass through the different stages of treatment to make it suitable for drinking, most of the diseases being experienced in Lagos particularly cholera is water borne diseases and must be tackled from source.”
The Project Manager from WaterAid Nigeria, Mr Godfrey Iloha, maintained that the training of the trainers was important, so as to enable participants step down knowledge gained from the training to others in ensuring that every Lagos resident has access to safe and clean water in line with Sustainable Development Goal 6 by year 2030.
Some of the participants stated that the training had equipped them to conduct simple water quality tests, with a call on residents to always boil water before drinking and ensure proper sanitation methods.
The training which attracted key stakeholders from the Health and environmental sector, Sanitation experts, also had participants divided into three groups to sample water from three communities in Alausa, Olusosun, Orile-Ikeja.