Pollutants increase cost of water treatment – Dam official

Mr Sunday Agbontaen, the Head of Reservoir and Production Department, FCT Water Board Lower Usuma Dam, has said that pollutants coming from Mpape community had increased the cost of water treatment.

Agbontaen said this on Friday at the cleaning exercise held in Lower Usuma Dam, Bwari Area Council, to begin the commemoration of the 2018 World Environment Day, which would be celebrated on June 5.

The exercise was organised by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) in collaboration with FCT Water Board, FCT Park and Recreation Service and Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice.

Agbontaen said pollutants in the water attracted toxins, which were dangerous to human health.

He added that the dam’s facilities had the capacity to screen the solid pollutants and disinfect the water for human consumption.

“In checking of pollutants from Mpape zone, these pollutants not only cause an increase in the cost of production but also attract toxins that might be dangerous to health.

“But all the same, that is why we have the treatment plant to eliminate the pollutants in the water.

“That is why when the water comes in, even at the catchment area up the Mpape zone, we monitor the water quality.

“When it comes to the plant, we also monitor non-water quality. That will now give us the standard of what type of treatment the water will go through.

“So, in the treatment process, we will be able to understand that this amount of pollutant is higher in the water.

“We need the number of chemicals to treat it in accordance to World Health Organisation and Nigeria Standard Organisation,’’ he said.

Agbontaen said that the Lower Usuma Dam was also spending additional cost to evacuate the pollutants embedded by the side of the dam.

The dam official said that a new plant would be designed to address the emerging pollutants such as plastics, steels and other pollutant substances.

The AEPB Head of Information and Outreach Unit, Mr Muktar Ibrahim, said that the AEPB held the cleaning exercise to begin its three-day programme for the commemoration of the 2018 World Environmental Day (WED).

Ibrahim, who said that WED is celebrated on June 5 every year, described it as the UN principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

“First held in 1974, it has been a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime,’’ he said.

Mrs Ehimen Rita, Corporate Communication Manager, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, an NGO, called for standard waste disposal and collection system to address the indiscriminate dumping of waste into the water.

Ehimien advocated for the recycling and prompt evacuation of waste, so as to combat the menace of pollutants in nation’s rivers.