water supply and sanitation in nigeria water supply and sanitation in nigeria responsibility of water supply in nigeria is shared between three levels of government – federal, state and local. the federal government is in charge of water resources management; state governments have the primary responsibility for urban water supply; and local governments together with communities are responsible for rural water supply. the responsibility for sanitation is not clearly defined. ningi built borehole water supply and sanitation in nigeriathe flag of nigeriadatawater coverage (broad definition)67% (2015)sanitation coverage (broad definition)33% (2015)continuity of supplynot availableaverage urban water use (l/person/day)not availableaverage urban water and sanitation tariff (us$/m3)flat residential fee of usd 3 per month in lagos and usd 11 per month in kaduna (2007)share of household metering24% in lagos, 16% in kaduna (2007)annual investment in wssnaira 82.5 billion (usd 0.5 billion) in 2010, corresponding to us$3/capita/yearshare of external financingmainly by external donorsinstitutionsdecentralization to municipalitiesno decentralization to the municipal levelnational water and sanitation companynowater and sanitation regulatornoresponsibility for policy settingfederal ministry of water resources and state ministries of water resources and 36 state water agencies (water supply), unclear (sanitation)sector lawnono. of urban service providers36 state water agenciesno. of rural service providerswater and sanitation committees (number not available) water supply service quality and cost recovery are low. water tariffs are low and many water users do not pay their bills. service providers thus rely mostly on occasional subsidies to cover their operating costs. national policies and initiatives encourages the participation of private sector and reform of policy at the state level. access volunteers clearing gutters in ilorin, nigeria during a volunteer sanitation day. even when there is adequate infrastructure for sanitation maintenance and efficacy may not always be available in nigeria. plastic pollution interferes with sewage supply the world over as around 2015 nigeria, 67% of the total population had access to at least basic water supplies. this was 82% of the urban population and 54% of the rural population. most people in nigeria do not have access to clean water, especially in the rural areas. the global water sanitation and hygiene statistics shows that 79 per cent of nigerians go through the challenge of water scarcity. in 2015, around 60 million people lacked access to "at least basic" water. as for sanitation, only 33% of the total population had access to "at least basic" sanitation. this was 39% of the urban population and 27% of the rural population. approximately 122 million people still lacked access to "at least basic" sanitation. in the urban areas, access to standpipes substituted to a large extent to piped water access. adequate sanitation is typically in the form of septic tanks, as there is no central sewage system. niger the statistics on access to water and sanitation are conflicting, due to divergent definitions, indicators and methodologies applied by different agencies. there is hardly any sector monitoring. according to guardian news: "the head of advocacy, policy and communication, water aid nigeria, kolawole banwo, said out of the 774 local government areas in nigeria, only 76 free of the status of open defecation in the country, this sanitation crisis remains a critical issue that needs urgent action". according to a report published by amnesty international in september, the oil company shell and government of rivers state, in southern nigeria are not doing enough to provide clean water in ogale, an area outside of the state capital. residents are either forced to buy water at un-affordable prices or drink from wells that are contaminated with benzene. service quality according to the world bank, in 2010," water production facilities in nigeria were rarely not operating to optimum capacity due to broken down equipment, or lack of power supply or fuel for pumping.” the operating cost of water agencies is increased by the need to rely on diesel generators or even having to build their own power plants, since power supply is erratic. equipment and pipes are poorly maintained, leading to intermittent supply and high levels of non-revenue water. as of 2000, about 80% of all government-owned(public operated)water systems in small towns were non-operational. through investments and capacity building for communities, the functionality of water points can be increased in the short term. for example, in focus communities supported by unicef in the kwara state, functionality has improved from 53% to 98%, and in the kebbi state, the functionality of boreholes have improved from 12% to 88%. however, it is not clear how well these facilities will continue to function in the long term, after international intervention has ended. in the second decade of the 2000s, it was measured with the presence of metalloids in the water supply destinated both to the human and the agricultural use, in some cases with value exceeding the international who limits (e.g. in the areas surrounding zaria, abakaliki, ibadan and onitsha. polluting of metalloids -and particularly of arsenic- varies in a relevant measure during the dry and wet season, due to the mineralization of well and borehole waters and partially to the mining industry activities. the same seasonality of arsenic's tenor has been observed in muscle tissues of demersal fish species. therefore, the problem of contamination is not completely solved not even for the nigerian fishing industry and further studies (or regulations) are needed. efficiency water supply and sanitation are not provided efficiently in nigeria. for example, state water agencies are massively overstaffed. in 2000, there were about 70 staff per 1,000 customers in state water agencies, compared to a best practice ratio of 3.5. non-revenue water often exceeds 50 percent. water supply by cities abuja millennium park in abuja, whose water supply is being expanded. nigeria's capital which is abuja receives part of its drinking water from the lower usuma dam reservoir. in september 2013, federal capital territory water board (fctwb) which is the agency that is responsible in providing portable water in the federal capital territory commissioned phase 3 and 4 of the lower usman dam treatment plant(ludwtp) project which began in november 2011. all phases of the project (phase 1,2,3, and 4) and the gurara dam reservoir source for raw water from the lower usuma dam reservoir which when combined, has the ability to process 720 million litres of clean water per day to abuja and her neighbours. wastewater is treated at federal capital territory sewage treatment plant located in the wupa district of abuja, was constructed by scc nigeria limited and commissioned by president olusegun obasanjo. enugu overview of enugu city enugu state is a state in the south-east geopolitical zone of nigeria. the enugu state water corporation is the agency in charge of water supply in enugu state, headed by the managing director. inadequate water supply has been one of the major challenges of the government of enugu which could be attributed to mis-managed infrastructures and erosion at the ajali water works which supplies 77,000m3 of water daily. the enugu state house of assembly in july 2021,passed a bill tagged “the right access to basic water and sanitation services’’. this bill was moved in a bid to improve water supply and sanitation services in the state. the enugu state government began the rehabilitation of the 9th mile crash programme in november 2021 after the project was abandoned for over 30 years. this project was carried out by fordmarx nigeria limited. lagos cms lagos nigeria's largest city, lagos state is surrounded by water from the sea and a lagoon. the total estimated percentage of clean water supply in the city is about 81.32%. but since the raw water in the lagoon is too polluted, the city gets its water from the ogun and owo rivers. the city's oldest water treatment plant, located in iju on the ogun river, was built in 1910. it was expanded in stages to 45m gallons per day. another smaller plant was built at ishashi on the owo river in the 1970s. the biggest plant so far was commissioned in 1991 in adiyan with a capacity of 70m gallons per day. it also draws from the owo river. there are also seven mini-waterworks drawing from local sources with a combined capacity of 18m gallons per day. the lagos water corporation states that the water produced in the plant meets the highest standards, and that it supplies "safe drinking water in sufficient and regular quantity to over 12.5 million people in lagos state". laswarco (lagos water corporation) also embarked on a study tour of the national water supply and sanitation council in zambia in order to resolve the basic factors responsible for water supply and sanitation crisis and required ways in solving the problem. however, water is often contaminated in the distribution network and people distrust tap water quality. electricity supply interruptions prevent treatment plants from operating continuously. however, a dedicated 12.15 mw power plant was under construction in 2012 to supply power to the adiyan, iju and akute water treatment plants. households also source water from numerous private shallow wells. or households rely on street vendors, creating a thriving market for “sachet water”, purified water packaged in polyethylene pouches. water vendors called mairuwa sell water from tanks and drums on carts, which is sometimes sold to other vendors that carry water in buckets or gerry cans. access to water provided by the state water corporation is 'metropocentric' i.e., centred around the metropolis. due to inadequate supply to in the society, people revolted on getting water from any source for domestic use. 40% of homes depends on well for domestic use; 32% on vendors for their water; 7% of homes depends on public boreholes and 19% on tankers, river/streams and rain water which isn't available in dry season. makurdi river benue (makurdi) in makurdi, the capital of benue state, only about 25-30% of the population are served and inhabitants fetch raw water in buckets from the polluted benue river. in 2008 the construction of a water treatment plant was left unfinished and officials were unable to account for us$6 million. as of 2012, a water treatment plant was under construction as part of the greater makurdi waterworks project. according to nat apir, an independent water consultant, the lack of a modern distribution network will lead pipes to burst and the capacity of the plant is at risk of not being fully utilized. the streams/rivers contribute 27.89% in dry season and 24.16% in wet season, rainwater as 0.00% in dry season and 27.22% in wet season. in ugbokolo community, the demand of water is higher (155,788 lpd) than the available supply (113,249 lpd) across the community. owerri after 24 years of operating without portable water, in 2020,the imo state government under the leadership of senator hope uzodinma released funds to revive public water supply in owerri the capital of imo state resulting in owerri residents having access to free water supply. the last major water maintenance project was the 1996 otammiri water works. hence the governor instructed a holistic revision in line with modern technology. according to usaid, the imo state water and sewerage corporation (iswsc) supplies water to 3million nigerians in imo state ibadan erelu dam which was commissioned in 1963 is the major source of water supply to residents of oyo and its environs and has the capacity to provide 7.5 million litres of water per day and also has the reservoir capacity of 10cm3. however, there are three water supply projects in ibadan: eleyele water works, asejire water works and osegere water works. lack of water supply, burst pipes are among the challenges faced by residents of oyo state as regards water supplies. urban areas of oyo state are supplied water by the oyo state water corporation. benin the water supply system in the city, which depends on the ikpoba river dam, serves only about 30% of the population. the other 70% derive their water from the numerous boreholes sunk for private, agricultural and industrial purposes. other cities the northern city of kano suffers from deficient water supply. kano is supplied from local rivers and from groundwater which is over-exploited. public water supply is deficient, so that private water selling points are multiplying and generate profits for their private operators. river kaduna serves as the main source of water supply for kaduna town and numerous industries. during dry season, peasant farmers use water from the river to